Trainer Mark Kavanagh has revealed that 2013 Australian Cup winner Super Cool is no certainty to race during the 2014 Autumn Racing Carnival.
Super Cool may not get the chance to defend his Australian Cup title during the 2014 Melbourne Festival Of Racing. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Super Cool was sent to the spelling paddock after he finished a credible ninth in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at the end of what was a fairly lengthy 2013 Spring Racing Carnival campaign and Kavanagh said that he will be giving the four-year-old a substantial stint away from racing.
The son of Fastnet Rock stamped himself as a genuine weight-for-age contender by winning the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) earlier this year but Kavanagh is still unsure whether he will give Super Cool the chance to become the first horse to win the race in back-to-back years since Vo Rogue in 1990.
“If he has an autumn campaign it will be a light one,” Kavanagh told TVN.
“There is not much time between the spring and the autumn these days and you have to be mindful of that.”
Super Cool went into the spring as one of the leading fancies for a number of feature races, after winning the Group 2 Autumn Classic (1800m) and Australian Cup earlier in the year, but was unable to record a race win.
He started his preparation with a fast-finishing third behind Atlantic Jewel and Ferlax in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) and went into the Group 2 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) as the favourite but had no luck during the run and finished fourth.
The four-year-old’s bad luck continued when he was blocked for a run on a number of occasions during the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) but had no excuses when finishing five lengths behind stablemate Atlantic Jewel and Foreteller in the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m).
Super Cool returned to a semblance of his best form when he finished fifth behind Shamus Award in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley and picked up another cheque for connections with his solid ninth in the Melbourne Cup.
While Super Cool will not be involved in the action, Kavanagh could unearth another potential Group contender at Moonee Valley on Friday night when the lightly-raced Great De Here returns to the track in the Sweeney Can Do Agents Handicap (1200m).
Great De Here recorded a dominant three and a half lengths victory in the GRC Function And Event Maiden (1000m) on debut at Geeling and finished third behind subsequent 2013 Victoria Derby winner Polanksi in the Routley’s Handicap (1440m).
