Ken Casellas | Race Replay
Captain Ravishing will be set for the Interdominion Championship at Brisbane’s Albion Park in July after returning to his best form with a stylish victory in the $31,000 Retravision Fremantle Cup Consolation over 2936m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The lightly-raced New South Wales-bred seven-year-old was the $4.20 favourite when he began from the No. 1 barrier, with 22-year-old Kylah Madden opting to surrender the lead after just 250m to the $4.60 second fancy Bettors Pride.
Shannon Suvaljko set a solid pace with Bettors Pride, with the opening quarters of the final mile in 29.8sec. and 29.5sec. before sprinting over the final 800m in 56.6sec.
Madden eased Captain Ravishing off the pegs with 220m to travel and the gelding took the lead 50m from the post before winning b a metre from Bettors Pride.
Owner Matt Henwood has been in charge of Captain Ravishing’s preparation over the past fortnight while his father Phillip (73), the gelding’s trainer, was in hospital recovering from heart surgery.
“I am now the 100 per cent owner after buying out the other part-owners a couple of weeks ago,” said Matt Henwood. “I have already had offers for him to stand at stud from over east, but at the moment the plans are to run in the Inters in Brisbane (with a $1 million final on July 18).
“I am aiming to start Captain Ravishing in a Gloucester Park Free-For-All next Friday night before sending him over to Melbourne to be trained by Lisa Miles before he travels to Queensland.”
It is interesting to note that Captain Ravishing recorded considerably faster times over 2936m than champion Magnificent Storm did in winning the $300,000 Fremantle Cup 30 minutes later.
Captain Ravishing ran the journey in 3min.33.4sec. (rating 1.57) while Magnificent Storm rated 1.58.8, with a gross time of 3min.36.7sec.
Captain Ravishing has earned $702,294 from 15 wins and eight placings from 39 starts. Eleven of his victories have been in Victoria, and he has won once in NSW, with his WA record being three wins and two placings from eleven starts.