Rainbow rising for Caulfield Cup

Chase The Rainbow threw his hat into the ring for the Group 1 Caulfield Cup with an outstanding first-up victory on Saturday.  He stalked Spacecraft before pricking his ears and powering clear in the National Jockeys Celebration Day Hcp (1400m).

“I’ve already backed him for the Caulfield Cup,” trainer Rick Hore-Lacy said.  “Why wouldn’t he run a mile and a half (2400m)?  He doesn’t pull and this is the first time I’ve had him right.”

Chase The Rainbow is by Swettenham Stud sire Dash For Cash and his spring campaign will continue in the G2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley in a fortnight.  “I’m thrilled with that effort,” Hore-Lacy added on Saturday.  “We’ve put a lot of work into this horse and he looked a moral in the run.”

Chase The Rainbow (4h Dash For Cash – Illusional by Redoute’s Choice) had been off the scene since pulling up sore in the G1 Caulfield Guineas last October.  He had earned a start in the classic after winning the G2 Bill Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley.

Hore-Lacy has treated him with kid gloves and is confident the grey has overcome joint problems which ruled him out of the autumn carnivals.

Winning jockey Craig Williams was very impressed with the winner.  “He threw me off at trackwork on Monday morning,” he revealed.  “Rick has got him right and he looked fit enough to win before the race.”

Hore-Lacy is well acquainted with Chase The Rainbow’s pedigree.  He trained Dash For Cash to G1 victories in the Australian Guineas and Futurity Stakes.  And he also prepared the gelding’s damsire Redoute’s Choice to G1 triumphs in the 1999 Blue Diamond and Caulfield Guineas.

His latest Group 1 candidate was a $90,000 buy from Swettenham Stud at the 2010 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling sale.  “He was an outstanding yearling,” Hore-Lacy recalled.  “He’s slightly bigger than Dash For Cash and their temperaments are alike.”

Dash For Cash (Secret Savings) has built a reputation as a staunch source of winners since retiring to Swettenham Stud.  There have been 238 individual winners in his first six crops and they have arrived at a strong 60% strike-rate.

Swettenham Stud’s Adam Sangster will stand Dash For Cash for a $6,600 (inc gst) ‘early-bird’ fee  in 2012.  Broodmare owners can contact Sangster on 0418 543 633 or nominations manager Chris Belli on 0417 514 552.

– Karl Patterson

CHASE THE RAINBOW