Caption: John Kuhn, left, his wife Yvie and fellow trainer Darren Taylor after Rattlin’ Grace’s win in a wet Bundaberg Maiden 1000 Final (460m) on Monday. (Photo: Uncle Rusty’s Photos)
By Pat McLeod
Darren Taylor is hoping a week of mixed fortunes swings to positive when his youngster, Who Goes There, contests the Rockhampton Wildcard Final (510m) on Wednesday night.
Taylor’s turbulent week began on Sunday when champion veteran, Say Some Words, bowed out from racing at her 94th start when she injured a back muscle in a straight track race at Capalaba.
Say Some Words had been the first emergency for Wednesday’s Wildcard and would have gained a start when Ken Boody was forced to scratch quality chaser Ring Me.
However, the news wasn’t all bad for Taylor. He also had the second reserve, Who Goes There, who will now join the field in the four box.
And the positive news continued on Monday when Rattlin’ Grace won race two at Bundaberg, the Bundaberg Maiden 1000 Final (460m).
The dog is trained by Bargara baker John Kuhn, but is owned by a syndicate that is a partnership between Taylor and Kuhn.
(Rattlin’ Grace won her first race in the Maiden 1000 heat and then won the final from box 6. In a bizarre twist, that is exactly the form line for her mother Miss Emmy, who won the final of the same feature in October, 2018, also from Box 6).
Ironically the Bundaberg program was washed out after race two, which swung Taylor’s ‘luck pendulum’ back to negative.
He was hoping to give Back Monaro a fitness hit-out in Race 5, a 3rd/4th Grade 460m event, as a lead-up to a possible Rockhampton Cup assault.
That plan is now in the balance.
However, overall Taylor took a glass half full approach to his swaying fortunes on the wet drive back to his Rockhampton kennels on Monday afternoon.
“The injury to Say Some Words wasn’t the way we wanted her to finish her career,” he said.
“We had hoped to race her for just a few more weeks, through to the Rockhampton Cup race day, which was to be her swansong.
“She has been a great campaigner and will be hard to replace. But she will stay at home and go off to the broodbitch kennels.
“We have a few sires in mind for her and John (Kuhn) was saying that after the Maiden 1000 win we have a little bit of money in the kitty to go hunting for a straw for her.
“We already have had inquiries from people asking if there would be any pups for sale from her.
“We won’t keep the whole litter. We will sell some.
“One has got to go back to George (Farrugia). He said he didn’t want one, but one is going to him.
“George owns the dog (Say Some Words) and has given her to us to breed from.
“He has always been good to me.”
Taylor has had a successful owner-trainer relationship with Farrugia, a prominent owner/breeder based in Melbourne.
In fact, Farrugia also owns Wildcard hope Who Goes There, who Taylor believes has ability, but possibly more-so over a longer distance than the Wildcard journey of 510m.
“She is a funny little dog,” Taylor said of Who Goes There.
“She does not have a brilliant turn of foot, but she just keeps coming.
“I was really rapt in her run in the heats last week. She gave them a long start and was really making ground late.
“She is definitely giving me the opinion that she is starting to look for more ground.
“Is she good enough to win this race on Wednesday? She would need to find a few lengths early, which I don’t think she can.
“But if things go wrong and a few dogs get tangled up, if she is close enough, she is definitely strong enough.
“She’s still only young, very young compared to some of these dogs, just the 17 starts.
“We possibly threw her to the wolves a little bit to see what she could do.
“But she is coming along well and I am sure will be better this week.”
The winner of the Wildcard not only picks up $16,000, but also gets direct passage through to the final of the $112,000 Rockhampton Cup on April 26.
The Wildcard is dominated by the Ken Boody kennel, with four runners.
Taylor believes the biggest danger in the race is Boody’s Venice Bale, the former Victorian chaser.
“The one that really catches my eye is Venice Bale,” he said.
“If she is close enough, she will blow them all away.
“She has got the best finish out of all the dogs in that race.”
