Dubbo previews: Lundholm's Blue De Beers set for Silver Goblet glory

Daily Telegraph

2 days ago

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Trainer Clint Lundholm is chasing his fourth Silver Goblet with a two-year-old that boasts Golden Slipper winner Pierro as a close family member.
Lundholm's colt, Blue De Beers, is out of a mare named Arabian Diamond.
A Lonhro herself like Pierro, both Arabian Diamond and the 2012 Two-Year-Old Triple Crown winner share the English stakes-winner Criquette as their second and third dam respectively.
Pierro famously won the Breeders' Plate on debut, now it's up to Blue De Beers to show what he's got when he makes his own debut in one of the Central West's most coveted juvenile features, the Kings Hall Jewellers Showcase Silver Goblet 2YO Handicap (1100m).
'He's a very nice horse,' Lundholm said.
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'He's been set for this race a good while ago. He didn't qualify for the Inglis race at Scone so we ear-tagged this race to target with him.
'He has trialled very well and had another unofficial jumpout after his second trial just to keep him up to the mark and we are really happy with him going to the races.
'I am not too worried about the (outside) draw.
'Over 1100m here at Dubbo, you come around one corner for home anyway so it doesn't concern me too much.
'I don't think it is against him anyway.'
Lundholm is represented by five horses across four races and while not enough to reach a certain milestone, a big day could edge him closer.
The record shows that Lundholm's present tally of winners at his home circuit is 194.
One of the trainer's string looking for their first Dubbo win is Willinga Karisma who aims to snap a sequence of two consecutive seconds when she tackles the Winter Country Classic Qualifier (1300m).
'She had a very tough run last start,' Lundholm explained.
'She got caught wide but was game and stuck on quite well. We've taken the claim this time around, she's got as soft draw, so she does look well-placed.'
Willinga Karisma will be joined in her quest in this week's qualifier by the sturdy Stratum Star mare, Avalicous.
'At 1300m first-up, she is probably wanting the run but she has got a soft draw and she makes her own luck,' her trainer said.
'She'll run well but I think she will improve from the run.'
Lundholm, meanwhile, aims to play a role in the hotly contested Showcase Benchmark 82 Handicap via the Widden Stud/Peter Frampton-owned and bred Starlink who resumes in the 1000m sprint.
'She was a little bit disappointing early in her preparation last time around and then she came out and pulled off a really impressive win at her last start,' Lundholm said.
'Then she had a little bit of an injury and went to the paddock.
'She's returned in great shape. She seems to be nice and sound.'
Lundholm and Kody Nestor combine twice starting with Blue De Beers in the Silver Goblet, followed by Macchina Volante in the Benchmark 82 Handicap (1400m).
This will be Nestor's first ride on the horse whose name translates into 'flying machine'.
'He finds conditions to suit,' said Lundholm.
'He will run a good race, he'll be honest.
'We're setting him for some for the county west cups coming over the winter.'
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Local gelding Cumnock's days as a Highway participant will come to an end if he can topple his rivals, all of them with significantly higher benchmark ratings, in the hotly contested sprint.
The Brett Thompson-trained, Bob Slack-Smith-bred five-year-old was saved a near 800km round trip this weekend when dealt with the almost impossible predicament of fifth emergency (and barrier 21) for Saturday's Highway at Randwick.
Instead, Cumnock, the horse with a thoroughly misleading Benchmark Rating of 60, takes on a couple of 77 raters in the Fardells Showcase Benchmark 82 Handicap (1000m) at his home ground.
'I don't know why he is so low in the benchmarks because it's not like he has been an inconsistent horse,' Thompson said.
'Anyway, I'm not whinging. There's times when you want to be low in the benchmarks and times when you want to be higher.'
Cumnock was successful in gaining a start in consecutive Highways in July last year, finishing fourth to Clear Thinking and Tanglewood in one and a fifth to Lonhro's Queen in the other.
Cumnock will be ridden by champion country jockey Mathew Cahill who is also tasked with the quest of helping the tough and reliable filly Sorrento Palace snap a sequence of three straight second placings.
'She is going super,' Thompson reported.
'She's just been drawing terrible gates so we've been scratching, scratching, scratching trying to wait until she draws a gate and she's drawn a gate now so we've just to hope she can do the job for us which I think she can.'
Thompson combines with inaugural Country Championships Final winning jockey Mitchell Bell in the Country Classic Qualifier for the boys where Hammering Away seeks to nail his third career win.
The well-bred chestnut boasts some deep form having mixed and matched with some above-average types on the way through including Rothgate whom he stretched to a neck last spring.
'He is a horse that always tries,' Thompson said.
'I thought it was a pretty good to run there first-up at Parkes the other day.
'I think the extra ground will help him, we have got a good jockey on, he's a good each-way bet.'