The decision to have a gallop at Dubbo Turf Club on Saturday proved to be a masterstroke from Mudgee trainer Cameron Crockett following Letchworth’s win at Gilgandra on Tuesday afternoon.
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The recent rain around the region forced the meeting to be switched from Warren to Gilgandra and that weather was also the reason behind Crockett taking his new gelding to Dubbo on Saturday for some work.
Crockett’s hometown track was in no shape for any work and the trainer was thankful for Dubbo Turf Club opening their gates to him after seeing 11-year-old veteran Letchworth score the 11th win of his career in just his second start for the Mudgee trainer.
“I took him over to Dubbo on Saturday and ran him up a couple hundred metres and thought he hadn’t done enough work so walked him up down the track a few times and then took him back out and galloped him a bit harder because last time he probably wasn’t fit enough,” Crockett said in the post-race interviews after seeing Letchworth finish last at Mudgee last start.
“I have to thank Dubbo Turf Club too. There’s nothing Mudgee could have done about it, we just went under flood last week so it was good to go over and do a few gallops up on top of the ground.”
Not much was said of the veteran galloper prior to the race, due largely in part to his disappointing run at Mudgee on July 3.
But jockey Rachael King produced a fine ride in the Cattleman’s Handicap (1300m) to score her second win of the day.
After jumping well from barrier six, King and Letchworth ($13) settled in towards the front behind early leaders Hollywood Nell ($7.50) and Victorian Crown ($5), trained at Dubbo by Mark Jones.
Pre-race favourite Playing Game ($2.50), also trained locally by Dar Lunn, sat with Letchworth and Dark Mojo and all three appeared well placed to make a strong run as the field approached the bend.
By the time they hit Gilgandra’s short home straight King was in a nice spot in the muddle of the track and it quickly became a race between two as Letchworth and Victorian Crown went head-to-head.
But Letchworth had the more power and won by a third-of-a-length from the Anthony Cavallo-ridden gelding while Playing Game and Greg Ryan had to settle for third.
The win was Letchworth’s first since scoring at Canterbury in June 2014 and Crockett said extra work appears to be the secret behind getting the best out of a gelding who has won three times at Randwick in the past.
“After Mudgee I was a bit disappointed and Ian (Hardy) that owns the horse obviously knows the horse because he had a big smile on his face and he said ‘don’t worry, he does that all the time’,” he said.