Catalonia worked home strongly from the back of the field to finish sixth in the Listed Ipswich Cup (2150m) and trainer Len Treloar is expecting the progressive mare to be suited by the step-up to 2400 metres in the 2014 Caloundra Cup at the Sunshine Coast this weekend.
Len Treloar is expecting Catalonia to run out a strong 2400 metres in the Caloundra Cup this weekend. Photo by: Daniel Costello
Catalonia went into the Ipswich Cup as one of the outsiders of the field and was settled at the tail by jockey Geoffrey Goold before making up plenty of ground late in the final stages of the race.
Treloar told Sky Racing HQ this morning that Catalonia has never performed at her best on the Ipswich track and said that he was thrilled with the way that the Flying Spur mare finished off the 2150 metre race ahead of the step-up in distance for the Caloundra Cup on Saturday.
“She is a filly that in her previous race starts when we have taken her to Ipswich she has never been comfortable on that small, tight track,” Treloar said.
“I knew that going there to the Ipswich Cup, but if my plan was to go on to the Caloundra Cup she needed to have that run in the Ipswich Cup.
“Also, running her in that Ipswich Cup would give me a guideline on whether she deserved a chance in the Caloundra Cup, which she showed that she definitely does.
“It probably cost her getting pushed wide on the turn trying to make ground, but in the end she was only beaten by 1.7 lengths and I am sure that if the race had been perhaps a 2200 that in the 50 metres she would have been putting pressure on the winner.
“I was very, very pleased with the way that she ran and her work since has been terrific.
Catalonia will be stepping up to 2400 metres for the first time in her career, after having two starts over 2200 metres at the end of her summer campaign, and Treloar is confident that she will relish the step-up in distance.
Because of her racing style Catalonia needs plenty of luck to score a race win, scoring just two victories from 28 starts, but Treloar believes that she will be finishing strongly in the Caloundra Cup this weekend.
“Her style of racing is that she gets back in her races and she comes from the tail of the field,” Treloar said.
“She comes with one short, sharp sprint down the outside, which she did at Ipswich, but she was pushed wide around the turn and she covered more ground than necessary.
“The 2400 of the big, open and spacious track of Caloundra should be absolutely perfect for her.”
Treloar is chasing his first feature race win since he took out the 2012 edition of the Group 3 Sunshine Coast Guineas (1600m) with Tuskegee Hawk.
