Despised outsider wins Group Two paying $101

Shane Sanderson and his connections would have headed to Melton on Saturday night (Jan. 28) confident of harness racing success in the Group 2 $100,000 VHRC Caduceus 3YO Classic.

And while they were ultimately celebrating a victory, it wasn’t with the horse most expected.

Dangerous started a red-hot $1.15 favourite following the scratching of top youngster School Captain, but his chances were all but over when he galloped as the bell sounded for the final lap.

This left stablemate Catalpa Rescue (American Ideal) as the Sanderson stable’s best hope of victory, despite being one of the despised outsiders at $101 on the TAB fixed odds.

Given a perfect drive by Sanderson’s 17-year-old daughter Abby, Catalpa Rescue peeled from his spot in the running line approaching the turn and quickly surged up to leader Soho Seraphine. And in a scrap down the straight, the son of American Ideal dug deepest to win by a neck over Michael Stanley’s filly.

The result was a career highlight for young Abby, who was pleased to get one over her brother Ryan aboard Dangerous.

“I definitely won’t let Ryan forget this one,” she said.

“Catalpa Rescue and Dangerous – there’s very little between them. Probably the only thing is Dangerous does have the manners. He’s a bit more mature than Catalpa Rescue.

“They’re very, very similar in ability. What Dangerous can do, so can Catalpa Rescue. When he matures, he will be a very nice horse.

“He had a gear change tonight and he was super.”

AMAZING!
Shane Sanderson and his son Ryan had red-hot favourite Dangerous gallop early in the VHRC Caduceus 3YO Classic, but stablemate Catalpa Rescue managed to bob up and take out the Group 2 feature at huge odds for his daughter Abby! pic.twitter.com/9VEtIisAwp

— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) January 28, 2023

Catalpa Rescue and Dangerous are both owned by Paul and Daniel Lowry, John Wilson, Leon Hogan, Robert Hodge and Max Dillon.

Saturday night’s triumph was a third-straight win this preparation for Catalpa Rescue, who broke his maiden at Cobram on January 8 and backed it up with a narrow victory at Swan Hill on January 18.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria