Bossdon City will have a realistic Spring campaign

Bossdon City had a heap of expectations on him when he started his career this year but the two-year-old season wasn’t overly kind to the Brett Cavanough trained gelding.

In a barrier trial before his first start he was touted as a Golden Slipper chance after putting nearly 10 lengths on his opposition at Wangaratta.

He then started his racing career with a bang, easily taking care of a Rosehill Handicap but the step up in grade was a little more difficult.

He ran fifth in the Blue Diamond Preview, beaten more than six lengths by eventual Golden Slipper champion Sepoy.

He had a month off from that run and had a crack at the Silver Slipper but things were even tougher, eventually coming home seventh more than seven lengths off Satin Shoes.

He was put out to spell immediately afterwards before coming back two weeks ago in the Eugene Gorman Handicap at Flemington.

It wasn’t a bad run first up finishing in fourth and showing a bit of promise to Cavanough.

Having said that they won’t be getting too carried away in the spring and they’ll be keeping his program as realistic as possible.

“We’ll be staying away from the super stars this time,” Cavanough said.

“I may have overcooked him early on but I’m happy with how he has improved.

“I took him to Flemington to familiarise him with the straight course ahead of the spring and hopefully he makes it that far.

“I thought he handled it pretty well and I was happy with the way he settled. I thought it was a huge run.”

This weekend he’ll be back in action at Randwick over a 1200m test against plenty of opposition.

Twenty have nominated for it so far with a final field of 14 to be settled upon tomorrow.

He will have the ride of apprentice Blake Spriggs, a nice pick up for the stable at a time where good jockeys are a little hard to come by in Sydney.

It’s actually an area where Cavanough has some concerns, specifically with the second tier of apprentices.

He says there have been a string of incidents off the track in recent times and they could be avoided if riders had a greater level of guidance and direction.

“There isn’t anything for the kids down here and they need more help,” he said.

“There are four people looking after them at Racing NSW and they can’t spread themselves around.”

Back on the race track though Cavanough is focussed on a big day at Randwick, not just with Bossdon City but also Sleepers.

He just picked up the horse after it previously ran for Lee Freedman, in the process picking up three Melbourne wins.

On Saturday he’ll also face a 1200m assignment.

“He is coming along for the trip and we will see how he measures up,” Cavanough said.