Above right: Jockey Nikita BerimanBy Brad Kingsbury
CRANBOURNE trainer Colin Davies said he would consider setting his honest money-spinner Shadow for his home cup after the gelding won the feature race on last Friday’s program.
Rising apprentice jockey Nikita Beriman rated the seven-year-old perfectly to see him to a powerful half-length victory in the Ready Workforce Open Handicap, prompting the prospect of a cup start.
“I’d love to have a cup runner and maybe this is my best chance,” Davies said.
“We’re thinking about bumping him up in distance but we have to see if he can handle the 2000 metres.
“We’ll give him another 1400-metre race and then step him up to the mile (1600 metres) and take it from there.”
Davies has had Shadow for more than 18 months for three wins and four placings after Caulfield trainer Mick Price lost patience with the gelding at the end of 2004.
Davies said Shadow was not a particularly easy horse to train but well worth the effort.
“He’s had quite a few problems and we had to take our time with him,” he said.
“He’s temperamental and doesn’t like travelling too far and that’s one of the reasons for looking at the Cranbourne Cup.
“If he can settle in his races he is good, but whatever we do with him, there will be a few more wins in him yet.”
Davies backed up Shadow’s win on Friday with a top effort from his rising young sprinter Stanzout to win at Kilmore the following afternoon.
Fellow Cranbourne mentor Barry Burke also had success on Friday when Late Change saluted in the final race on the card.
