Scone horseman Brett Cavanough will make a late week call on whether his sprinter The Monstar races in Sydney’s Civic Stakes 2017 or heads to Queensland for the Glasshouse Handicap with track conditions to be the deciding factor.
Wet-track sprinter The Monstar will race in either the Civic Stakes or Glasshouse Handicap depending on the course conditions this weekend. Photo: Daniel Costello.
A proven mudlark, The Monstar has proven most affective on rain-affected tracks and Cavanough is on weather watch between now and Saturday to find the most suitable surface for the rising seven-year-old.
“He is a very easy horse to train and he is one of the best eaters ever,” Cavanough said of the horse speaking to The Daily Telegraph this week.
“He is a good doer and that makes my job easy.”
Last time out the California Dane gelding saluted by a runaway six lengths on a Heavy (10) Randwick track on June 10 in the Listed June Stakes (1100m).
That was his first win since getting the job done on a Soft (7) at the same track last December in the Listed Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m).
The Monstar is a dual Saturday racing nominee across two states.
Cavanough has the veteran nominated for both the $150,000 Listed Civic Stakes (1350m) at Rosehill Gardens as well as $175,000 Listed Glasshouse Handicap (1400m) at Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on Caloundra Cup Day.
“It’s either the Civic Stakes or Glasshouse,” Cavanough said.
“At the end of the day it will be weather dominated and he is ready to go either way.
“We’re only seven to eight hours from Queensland so you probably want to be out of here Thursday afternoon [if we go to Queensland].”
The Civic Stakes attracted 17 nominations and The Monstar is the highest-rated and weighted of those, forced to carry the 59.5kg top weight should his trainer go the Sydney option.
That is a two kilo rise on the 57.5kg he carried to victory in the June Stakes and the horse’s only other start at Rosehill producing a sixth behind Alberto Magic in the Group 3 Maurice McCarten Stakes (1100m) in March last year.
The Monstar backed up from that unplaced run, where he was beaten under three lengths, with a start at the Sunshine Coast saluting by two lengths as the odds-on favourite in a Benchmark 90 with 59kg on his back.
He could return to that track this weekend should the rain fall at Caloundra in the lead-up and The Monstar is the current equal 59kg top weight for the Glasshouse Handicap with Ulmann from the stables of Darren Weir.
At this stage the Civic Stakes looks like it will feature Cavanough’s hopeful with Rosehill currently rated a Soft (6) compared to Good (4) at the Sunshine Coast.
No matter what way Cavanough goes the distance could prove the real test for The Monstar who is yet to win over further than 1200m, but his trainer remains unfazed.
“We’ve only run him once over 1400m and it was in the Canberra Guineas and it was pretty much an afterthought,” he said.
“If the track has give in it and he is on song, there is an old adage those 1000m and 1100m horses sometimes at 1200m there is just too much pressure and if you go to 1400m they can just get left alone or get a softer lead.
“I don’t have too many issues [with 1400m] and he jogged every part of [the 1100m] the other day [in the June Stakes].”
To back The Monstar this weekend at the best winter racing odds head to Ladbrokes.com.au today.
