Gavin Bedggood walked away from Caulfield with a Group 3 win on Saturday, yet he couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that he’d made the wrong call with one of his stable stars.
The Cranbourne trainer admitted he knew early in the day that scratching Kingswood might come back to haunt him, even as the stable enjoyed Stakes success.
Bedggood withdrew Kingswood from the Eclipse Stakes after assessing the morning’s Soft 7 rating and fearing the gelding wouldn’t handle the conditions. But the predicted rain didn’t fall, and the track was swiftly lifted to a Soft 6 once racing got underway.
While Casino Seventeen delivered Bedggood the $200,000 Group 3 Eclipse Stakes, it didn’t ease his disappointment at missing the race with Kingswood.
“I’ve felt sick about it all day,” Bedggood said.
“It was a Soft 7 this morning, they run the first race and they upgraded and we’ve had no rain. If the owners were upset at me I wouldn’t blame them either.
“It was going to be wet and it hasn’t eventuated. That was my blue.
“I didn’t want to give him a gut-buster with the idea of backing up next Saturday, so I thought we’d reserve him for that.”
Kingswood will look to make amends in this weekend’s $500,000 Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m), where Bedggood expects him to be far more suited.
Casino Seventeen is also likely to line up after recording his first win for the stable since moving from WA trainers Grant and Alana Williams.
The gelding’s latest success added another quirk to his colourful résumé—55 starts for 11 wins, 11 seconds and 11 thirds, having raced across South Australia, Darwin, New South Wales and Perth before making his way to Cranbourne.
Punters sizing up Kingswood or Casino Seventeen for the Ballarat Cup can compare bookmaker odds via Australia’s top betting sites.