Having done their homework and taken the plunge, a Werribee harness racing father-son team has scooped the brightest prospect to grace their stable.
Trainer Jeff Tabone and co-owner Luke Tabone will be hoping the good times continue when their unbeaten two-year-old gelding, Cruz, steps out for his city debut in the Group 2 $50,575 Apco Tatlow Stakes.
“He is probably the best young horse I have had,” Jeff Tabone said. “He has given me and my son a lot of excitement.”
Cruz won by 3.7m on debut at Cranbourne on June 14, then followed up by mowing down Our Uncle Sam by a head at Geelong via the sprint lane.
It’s form that was validated when Our Uncle Sam won the Empire Stallions Vicbred Super Series Silver Pace at his next start, and Mygoldengrinner was beaten a half-neck to third in the bronze pace, having earlier finished second to Cruz at Cranbourne and third to Cruz and Our Uncle Sam at Geelong.
“There has been a lot of form around him,” Tabone said. “Most the horses than have finished second or third behind him have come out and won.”
It’s encouraging reward on investment for the Tabones, whose gelding by American Ideal out of Close To Heaven has briskly seen his stocks rise.
“We scooped him up in New Zealand from video trials,” Tabone said. “He’s well bred and in his trial he pushed out well.”
Cruz was with renowned Kiwi trainer Tony Herilhy, a “good friend” of Tabone, whose phone call pursuing purchase led to a successful negotiation, and there is a sense the gelding has thus far only scratched the surface.
“He has a lot more development to come,” Tabone said. “If he wasn’t Breeders Crown eligible I would have put him in the paddock and he would come back more educated next time around.
“He’s a terrific horse at home, a very well-mannered horse, but when you put the sulky on he pulls a bit and he wants to run. His second run he was a bit more keen and pulled.”
His behaviour will be tested on Saturday night at Tabcorp Park Melton, when he will run into Team Tritton’s talented Blue Moon Rising, Terang flyer Jilliby Kung Fu and Emma Stewart’s Vicbred placegetter Our Little General.
“They are seasoned horses and nice horses,” Tabone said. “They are coming out of Vicbred and going well and have had a lot of racing.
“I’m just hoping (Cruz) handles it well. I’m sure he will, he’ll be thereabouts. Hopefully he will finish in the first four, acquit himself well and improves on his previous run. He’s a nice horse and he should be running among this echelon of horses.”
Michael Howard (HRV Media/Communications Co-Ordinator)