Proven Group 1 star Catch A Wave served notice he is on track to defend his Len Smith Mile crown with a stunning win in the IRT Free For All at Melton on Saturday night.
Somewhat disregarded by punters as a $13 chance, the seven-time Group 1 winner’s price virtually doubled as he settled at the rear of the field in what shaped mid-race as merely a dash to the winning post.
Despite turning for home a clear last, Catch A Wave quickly began to muster out wide on the track and produced a barnstorming finale to get up and score by a head from the $1.95 favorite Fighter Command in a mile rate of 1:52 for the 1720 metres.
The leader-to-winner last 400-metre split of 26.6 suggests the Andy Gath-trained six-year-old reeled off a last quarter to break the clock.
After the race, Kate Gath glanced at the semaphore board before remarking, “To think they’ve run 26.5, goodness gracious me, I don’t know what he’s run,” Gath said.
“Yes, I was a long way off them at the 400, so he was super impressive,” she said.
The win provided Andy Gath with a sense of relief following a less-than-desirable Inter Dominion campaign in Brisbane.
“He got an abscess, which was obviously a weight-bearing issue during the series, so it was hard to get much work into him leading into the Final,” Gath said.
“With that in mind, I thought he hit the line really well in the Final, and if the race was another 200 metres, he would have passed another four or five runners,” he said.
Gath was buoyed by the win and is heading to the Len Smith Mile with a degree of confidence. “His record of winning the Len Smith Mile, the Chariots, and Miracle Mile shows his best races are a mile around Menangle,” he said.
“His form leading into winning the Len Smith last year wasn’t all that good, and I reckon he is going a lot better leading into this year’s race after running his last 800 in 52.7 and 400 in 25.4 tonight.”
