Kingswood has provided trainer Gavin Bedggood with his most significant career victory, winning the Caulfield Cup.
Bedggood secured the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on Saturday with the UK-bred import Kingswood, surpassing his previous biggest win in the Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley in 2024.
A skilled jumps jockey in his time, with nearly 100 wins to his name, Bedggood turned to training in 2017, initially with horses in lower grades.
He quickly made a name for himself by purchasing horses online and rejuvenating them, utilising the Cranbourne training facilities.
His first notable win came in the 2021 Heatherlie Handicap, a race that Kingswood coincidentally won on his path to Saturday’s triumph.
“I’m just rapt for my team at home,” Bedggood stated.
“They all turn up every day and they work really hard.
“I’m a hard task master. I’m anal and like things done a particular way but they put up with me, and I don’t get the results that I’m getting without good people behind me.”
Ridden by John Allen, Kingswood ($26) achieved a half-length victory over Saint George ($10), with Enfjaar ($12) a further half-length behind in third.
Bedggood conveyed his gratitude to Darren Weir for recommending him to train Kingswood.
“He told the owners to send the horse my way, so I’m grateful for that,” Bedggood said.
“When I got it, he told me it reminded him of Puissance De Lune, not because it’s a grey, but because it’s tough, it’s got a good constitution, and it’s got a good capacity.
“He was bang on with everything he said.”
Following the barrier draw on Tuesday, Bedggood expressed his disappointment when the gelding drew barrier 20, which moved into 17 after scratchings.
His initial strategy was to ride for luck.
“I had a chat to Johnny yesterday and said, ‘you’re riding it’,” Bedggood explained.
“I’ve ridden in races and it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and say I want you to do this, I want you to do that, but it’s not an easy task from where we drew.
“I pretty much left it in his hands. We were pretty much posted three-wide all the way and everyone wanted to question the horse’s credentials at a mile-and-a-half.
“We couldn’t condemn him on his run here (in the Zipping Classic, in 2024), it was on a heavy nine, and you had to put a line through it.
“It’s great to be vindicated.”
Bedggood took Kingswood to New Zealand late last year, where the gelding competed in three Group 1 races, including a victory at Ellerslie.
He mentioned that these races were well-timed after a limited spring preparation.
“New Zealand was great,” Bedggood commented.
“We went over there with a target to win a Group 1 because there was limited opportunities for him at that time of year here and he had a limited spring.
“I felt a bit sorry for the horse because everyone said he went to New Zealand and knocked off a second-tier type of horse, but I didn’t think that was the case.
“I thought he might have been an Australian Cup horse in the autumn, or something like that, and he’ll come back and be that horse.
“We hit every target this preparation when we sat down and made a plan and to win the Grand Final is fantastic.”
The race was marred by an early fall in the straight involving Half Yours, ridden by Mark Zahra, and Ohope Win, ridden by Jye McNeil.
Half Yours fell, with Ohope Wins then going down over the top of the horse that won last year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
Unfortunately, Ohope Wins sustained a catastrophic injury and was humanely euthanised, while Zahra and McNeil were transported to hospital for observation after walking to the ambulance.
The Caulfield Cup always delivers thrilling action, and checking the latest racing odds at betting sites provides a great way to engage with the event.
