The Sanderson family will need to call on all parts of the team to lift another Mildura Pacing Cup trophy this Friday night.
Trainer Shane Sanderson is chasing a third-straight triumph in Sunraysia’s biggest feature, with the in-form Catalpa Rescue well fancied to back up Sahara Tiger’s long-shot win in 2023 and Dangerous’ success last year.
Shane’s son Ryan will take the reins of the short-priced favourite in the second of two heats this evening, but will be forced to watch from the sidelines if the son of American Ideal qualifies for the $30,000 final due to an impending suspension.
That means Ryan’s sister Abby will assume the pilot’s seat for the decider, should he make it.
Shane Sanderson has long held the opinion that there isn’t much between stablemates Dangerous and Catalpa Rescue – five-year-olds who were purchased at the same Nutrien Equine sale - and a glance at their career records would back up that theory. Dangerous has won 10 of 39 starts for prizemoney of $233,626, while Catalpa Rescue has scored in nine of 27 for earnings of $159,694.
And while Dangerous perhaps has the higher profile of the two, Catalpa Rescue won the most recent battle between the pair when running him down in last month’s Charlton Pacing Cup.
“I didn’t think there was ever much between them,” Sanderson said. “I think they have both probably stepped up and both matured.
“Because the quality is down this year, Catalpa’s a good chance of overcoming the bad barrier draw (gate nine in tonight’s heat and back row again for final). But in previous years, with a stronger quality race, it would have made it hard.”
Sanderson said it would be a special result to win another Mildura Pacing Cup for the same group of owners that shared in the success of Dangerous last April.
The connections include Sanderson’s business partners Paul and Danny Lowry, John Wilson, Leon Hogan, Robert Hodge and Max Dillon.
“They told me last year it was always one of their bucket list items to win a Mildura Cup, so I suppose if we could win two of them it would be good,” he said.
Sanderson said if Catalpa Rescue held his form, a tilt at the winter carnival in Brisbane – based around the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship – was a likely path forward. The stable is already plotting a path to this year’s Protostar slot race for two-year-old pacers, having secured a starter under the Willowood Farm brand.
Tonight’s Mildura Pacing Cup heats will be run at 8.16pm and 8.51pm, with the top five place-getters in each, as well as the fastest sixth overall, moving through to the final.
The Cup heats and final are named in memory of the late Barry Bottams, who was the Mildura Harness Racing Club’s president for a record 26 years, as well as a passionate owner, trainer and driver.