Captaintreacherous stars outstanding at Melton

Trots lovers were treated to a stunning four-year-old half-hour of power with Captain Ravishing (Captaintreacherous) and then Catch A Wave (Captaintreacherous) giving a glimpse into the future of the harness racing sport.

Both short-priced favourites put in outstanding runs, with Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin’s Captain Ravishing in a class of his own in the Cogs Services 4YO Bonanza, while Andy Gath’s Catch A Wave drew on his brilliance to win the 1200-metre Nutrien Equine Mercury 80.

The jaw-dropping performances have the pair on course for a likely showdown in Sydney’s Chariots of Fire on February 18 and big Grand Circuit racing to follow.

“He is a great horse and he’s probably as good a pacer as I’ve ever trained and we’ve probably been fortunate over the last half an hour we’re seen two really great horses race,” Gath said.

“It’s fantastic and let’s just enjoy all these horses going forward. There’s no need to compare them, who’s better, who was better 20 years, we are just fortunate to have all these good horses racing – let’s enjoy them.”

Gath said Catch A Wave would likely race at Menangle next week in the Chariots Of Fire qualifier, with Captain Ravishing already booking a spot in the $250,000 Group 1 courtesy of tonight’s Melton victory.

The 4YO Bonanza gifts its winner a direct ticket to the big dance and it was a thrilled Tonkin who spoke to Gareth Hall on TrotsVision post-race.

“Everybody wants to come to see these horses, he’s a complete excitement machine,” he said of Captain Ravishing. “To see him first up tonight, sit parked going 1:50. You don’t see horses do that.”

Pitt allowed Captain Ravishing to work forward under his own steam, sitting three-wide initially before ambling to the breeze until the 800-metre mark, and then it was game on.

A 26.2-second third quarter provided separation from the leader Invitation Only and all who trailed him, with Captain Ravishing then running to the line in 28.2 seconds and setting down a 1:50.9 mile rate.

“I haven’t had a horse feel like this for a long time, probably Ride High I’d say. He just feels phenomenal and when you want him to go he goes,” reinsman Mark Pitt said.

“He just knocked off a little bit at the end, I’m sure if I pulled the plugs and flicked him up he would have clicked up a gear but I didn’t want to kill him. When he gets 100 per cent fit he’s going to be better again from this run.”

Tonkin added “I wouldn’t say I’ve trained a better horse” and “we wouldn’t swap him for anything”.

There was similar satisfaction in the Gath camp after Catch A Wave’s win, which required reinswoman Kate Gath to put the hammer down for the last 800 after leader Fire Fox got a jump.

He had to rip home in a 55.1-second last half to overcome the deficit but had the horse in her hands to do just that a produce another notable win.

“He is a really fast horse and he can sustain it,” Kate Gath said. “He had to do that tonight. They didn’t go as hard out of the gate as they have in the previous ones, it makes it tough, it was a pretty good effort.”

He’s certainly the apple of trainer Andy Gath’s eye.

“I love these short races, they’re such a great spectacle and from where he was to be able to win like he did just shows he’s a quality horse,” he said.

“No doubt he’s got terrific high speed, he’s a beautifully gaited horse, covers the ground really good. He’s just got a great constitution, he can handle the workload, he can handle the racing. He was pretty quirky early on, he was hard to deal with, but everything’s coming to hand now with him.”

The four-year-old flavour continued into the following race, the Alabar Bloodstock Ladyship Cup, a $100,000 Group 2 and the equal richest mares race on the Victorian calendar.

The race was turned on its head when favourite Tough Tilly broke gait at the start, with reinsman Chris Alford extracting Amore Vita from her pegline draw and advancing to the breeze outside Dougs Babe.

She covered the leader only to have Tay Tay emerge on her outside, but the Emma Stewart runner fought back brilliantly to score by five metres.

“Once (Tough Tilly broke) we were able to get off the fence and put her up in the action,” Alford said.

“I always thought Dougs Babe is not a great leader and we sort of had her covered. Tay Tay sprinted past her and got about a metre on her, but she dug deep and fought back.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Michael Howard, for Harness Racing Victoria