When recently planning the upcoming path for his dog Kid Candle, trainer Geoff Grimwood’s message for the owners was simple: “These dogs only come along every so often, let’s have a crack.”
The owners agreed, and on Sunday night, the Kid Candle team collected Group success with an emphatic victory in the Group 2 Woy Woy Poultry Gosford Gold Cup.
“I’m over the moon,” Grimwood said. “It’s always a dream to win these sorts of races. We never thought we would ever do it. We have been in a few - a couple of these types of finals - and it’s just unreal to win one. It’s a dream come true.
“And it’s our own breed. We breed rare, and we do all our own. We’ve only got a small team so it’s just a great buzz.
“It’s brilliant for the owners too. This is just the second dog they have owned. It’s so good to get new people into the industry.”
The Peter Lagogiane-trained Double Back charged out of the boxes and led clearly around the first turn, but Kid Candle was also well away and as he often does, railed hard heading into the back straight.
When Double Back moved up the track going down the back straight, Kid Candle took advantage and raced to the front, and once in front was not going to surrender the lead.
Buck’s Future - who was last away - ran home strongly to grab second, three quarters of a length behind the winner.
Double Back held on for third, a further three quarters of a length away, and just ahead of his kennelmate Hooray Zipper, who produced a good run after being checked on the first turn and being last heading into the back straight.
The winner clocked 29.60s, well adrift of the time standard of the heats, Hooray Zipper’s 29.22s, but the Final was not about times, but crossing the line first and collecting the Group 2 victory and the accompanying $40,000 cheque.
“You never have an expectation coming into these sorts of races, you just hope for the best and a bit of luck which is what we got,” Grimwood said.
“It sort of panned out a little bit the way I was hoping. I thought the two (Double Back) would lead and I was hoping our bloke would get on the tail of the two, then he got up underneath the two, and the rest is history.
“You’ve got to have luck on your side, and if you’ve got a dog who can run a bit, you’re always a chance.”
Asked what his next aim is, Grimwood replied the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park later this month was the target.
“I said to the owners before this (Gosford Cup), we’ve got a dog that can run, why not have a crack at the Paws of Thunder? Why not? You only have them once every so often, so why not? So, that’s our next aim.”
