3 minute read
Trainer Todd Smart isn’t prepared to wait another year to find out if promising galloper Gundy Guy is Country Championships material so he’s keen to snatch the last spot on offer at Goulburn on Sunday for next month’s final.
The lightly raced three-year-old has burst onto the scene with three wins on end in his second racing preparation, having breaking his jaw after his debut, and Smart punted on getting his shot in the $150,000 Newhaven Park Southern Wild Card (1400m).
Gundy Guy accepted for the South East Championships at Moruya but was sixth emergency and didn't gain a run but that qualified him for the Wild Card so Smart went about lifting his rating.
And he did that with an easy win in a Class 2 at Canberra on Black Opal Day.
"Our rating wasn't high enough the other day and we didn't get a run so we accepted for the Canberra Guineas and the Class 2,'' he said.
"We chose the Class 2 just to build his rating and it's worked out the way we wanted.
"Once we knew we were potentially going to get a start in the Wild Card we changed our thinking a bit.
"My opinion is if we wait until next year he may be ineligible. He's won three now and in 12 months time I think he can win more than two."
The son of Capitalist was passed in at the Classic Sale but Smart picked him up for $50,000 so he's already proving to be a shrewd buy with just over $63,000 banked from four starts and the promise of more to come.
His name is a reference to the town where a number of the owners, plus both Smart and jockey Billy Owen, hail from and he's gathered something of a cult following in his short career to date.
Smart said the gelding has already proven his versatility in his three wins this time around and that's something Owen can use to his advantage in his biggest test to date.
"I've allowed Billy half a kilo but he's going to try to get the 56kg, he loves the horse and we think he's going very well,'' he said.
"He's a horse on the way up, he's done it pretty much differently every time he's won this preparation.
"I think he will be just behind the speed somewhere. He may just seem like he just lobs there form nowhere but I think there's plenty more left.
"He's a horse that only does what he has to at the moment but there's a lot more there.
"No doubt the Wild Card is strong but I think it's a strong Highway sort of level and I think he's better than that.
"I'm going in confident, we've drawn well, our horse is spot on."
Gundy Guy was $4.20 with TAB on Saturday, and he's a $26 chance in the $1m Newhaven Park Country Championships Final (1400m) run at Randwick on April 6.
