Blue Goose Boy To Continue Sparkling Return
TRAINING team Mark and Daniel Gatt have $1M reasons to hope Blue Goose Boy can maintain his unblemished return for eight more days.
TRAINING team Mark and Daniel Gatt have $1 million reasons to hope resurgent sprinter Blue Goose Boy can maintain his unblemished racing return for eight more days.
On Saturday night, Blue Goose Boy steps out in semi-final two of the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, where he's been installed a $3.20 favourite from his suitable box three draw.
The gifted son of Beast Unleashed and Zipping Kelly only returned to racing in mid-September after spending five long months on the sidelines with pin muscle and hip injuries.
FIELDS AND FORM WENTWORTH PARK SATURDAY NIGHT
But the 14-time winner has quickly made up for lost time, stringing together three successive victories at Wentworth Park in a blinding 29.47, 29.61 and 29.59.
That insatiable stretch of form has seen Blue Goose Boy climb the ranks in MDC standings, now just one win away from a berth in the $1 million-to-the-winner decider in Sydney on Friday week.
"It'd be great if he could stretch that winning run from three out to five," Mark Gatt, who trains in partnership with brother Daniel, said.
"He's always been a very fast dog but since he's returned from the layoff he's been beginning a lot better.
"Why we don't really know. But probably just with a bit of age on his side now he's worked things out that bit better.
"To win a race like this you need to be in your sweet spot form wise at the right time and he's definitely in the zone at the moment.
"Sometimes it isn't the best dog that wins a race like this, it's the one that's in the best form and has the luck go their way with box draws.
"He's by no means a group 1 superstar but the race is at his home track and I can't complain about his box draw either. There's no excuses."
In 2023, Blue Goose Boy finished a luckless sixth in a MDC semi-final on the same night his brother Nad Al Sheba, trained by Peter Lagogiane, finished a luckless third.
Nad Al Sheba qualified for his MDC semi-final berth on Saturday night with a ripping win in the Maitland leg of the series before almost breaking The Gardens track record in a heat of the Black Top.
A year on, the siblings return in tip top form, looking to book a finals spot with Nad Al Sheba also drawing box three in semi-final seven as favourite.
Team Gatt will also line-up 10-time Wentworth Park winner Sammy Ethan in Saturday night's cutthroat semi-finals, another to draw box three in semi-final five, pitted up against Group 1 Megastar winner Good Odds Cobber.
"I can't complain about his draw either," Gatt said.
"If the breaks go his way early he can run his usual honest race."