Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Aiden De Campo has been engaged to drive exciting pacer Captain Ravishing in the $50,000 Sky Racing Navy Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night, and he is confident that the star five-year-old will fight out the finish of the 2130m event at his West Australian debut and a week before contesting the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup.
De Campo has formed his optimistic opinion after driving the stallion in workouts at Gloucester Park and Byford.
“I worked him with a couple of horses from Ryan Bell’s stable as well as a galloping pacemaker at Gloucester Park last Saturday morning when he had a really good hit-out,” said De Campo. “Freddy (trainer Freddy Taiba) was of the opinion that he needed the workout.
“And this morning (Tuesday) Captain Ravishing worked by himself at Byford, and he really sharpened up. He was almost a different horse, and certainly improved from his workout on Saturday.”
The 42-year-old Taiba was due to arrive in WA some time on Wednesday to take over the preparation of Captain Ravishing, who has been under the care of Ross Olivieri and Jemma Hayman for the past week.
Taiba has taken over the training of Captain Ravishing from his older brother Ahmed and has given the pacer four starts after a ten-month absence for wins and Geelong and Melton in September, followed by unplaced efforts at Melton from unfavourable draws.
Captain Ravishing, owned by another brother Hassan, has been lightly raced, with his 22 starts producing eleven wins. Four seconds and a third placing for stakes of $545,015, with a highlight of his career being his third placing, first-up for six months, behind Encipher and Leap To Fame in the $2.1 million Eureka at Menangle in September last year.
Freddy Taiba, who has not raced a horse in WA, is well known as the trainer of the brilliant Sushi Sushi, an Art Major gelding he raced 28 times for 21 wins and $838,827. This included a spectacular four group 1 triumphs in the space of six months in 2011 — the Victoria Derby at Melton, New Zealand’s Northen Derby at Alexandra Park, the Alabar Breeders Challenge at Menangle and the Australasian Breeders Crown at Melton.
Captain Ravishing will be having his first start since he began from the outside of the back line and never got into the race when racing in last position and finished tenth behind Swayzee in the 2240m Victoria Cup at Melton on October 12.
Captain Ravishing will start from the No. 5 barrier in the Navy Cup, with the Ray Jones-trained Lavra Joe drawing the coveted No. 1 barrier for his third appearance after a five-month absence.
Lavra Joe, a winner of 33 races and $741,883 in prizemoney, had a tough second-up run in the breeze when a fighting second to the pacemaker Tricky Miki in a 2536m Free-For-All last Friday week.
“He is on his way up,” said his driver Kyle Harper. “His two runs in this campaign are sure to have improved him. “We knew that he was going to need the run a fortnight ago, and Ray elected to miss last week, preferring to put the work into him at home.
“Ray did a similar thing before — when Lavra Joe turned up for the Nullarbor (last April) and ran a hell of a good race (finishing powerfully to be fourth behind Catch A Wave in the Nullarbor slot race).
“I would say we are likely to get early pressure from Steno (barrier two), and we will know we’re in a race. This will be a good test for Lavra Joe. Unless Ray tells me otherwise, we’ll have handlebars down (at the start) and make a race of it.
“This is certainly no gimme for Lavra Joe despite the barrier draw. Whatever he does I’m sure he will improve for the Pacing Cup the following week.
“Captain Ravishing is a very classy horse, and I’ll be sitting down and having a good look at his form and the way he races.”
Steno, the only mare in the Navy Cup, is in sparkling form for Ravenswood trainer-driver Jocelyn Young, who is looking for a strong performance for the five-year-old leading into the $100,000 Norms Daughter Classic for mares the following Friday.
Who “I’d be happy if she flies out and leads,” said Young. “She is working the house down, but she doesn’t have to lead, and if she gets behind Lavra Joe she will be very dangerous.
“It’s not all eggs in one basket if we don’t lead, and I don’t want to torch her going into a $100,000 race a week later.”
The 31-year-old Young is establishing herself as an outstanding trainer, who notched her 154TH victory as a trainer when she brought Rock Rosie Rock home with a storming run to easily beat The Lightning Strike in a 1730m event at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night.
Her 887 starts as a trainer in six seasons have resulted in 154 wins (a 17 per cent winning record) and 255 placings (a 29 per cent record). And she has also shone in the sulky with 424 wins.