Two rising nine-year-olds, both resuming, will give Gavin Bedggood a potential shot at his biggest payday as a trainer.
A former jockey, Bedggood has been plying his trade as a trainer since 2017 and during the recent Melbourne Spring Carnival prepared Mornington Glory to land his first Group 1 success.
Just Folk and Windstorm, both owned in similar interests, are heading to the inaugural running of $1 million The Supernova (1400m) at Pakenham on Saturday.
Bedggood said The Supernova had been on Just Folk’s radar for about six weeks while the trainer had specifically aimed Windstorm at the set-weights and penalties contest since the race was first announced.
Just Folk has not raced since winning the Lord Mayors Cup (1800m) at Eagle Farm in June.
A bout of colic that required surgery for a twisted bowel kept Just Folk out of action during the Melbourne Spring.
“He’s had a long, slow build-up,” Bedggood said.
“He had colic surgery while he was in Brisbane. He had a twist in his bowel and that was all corrected and he had the required time off.
“He’s come back in and had an incident free preparation.
“This race presented and where he’s rated, there’s not a lot of options for a horse like him at this time of year, so it was a good fit.”
Bedggood said he expects Just Folk to run well but added there was improvement to come.
He said Just Folk performs well fresh, running second at Flemington over 1400m at his first run for the stable and an unlucky sixth in Sydney at his only other first-up run.
Bedggood said Windstorm was in excellent order ahead of his first-up assignment and had been specifically targeted at the race, having not raced since early August.
Windstorm has had four jump-outs, the most recent on December 9.
“I think he is flying and is one we definitely targeted at the race for a long time,” Bedggood said.
“He’s had a great preparation. He’s had four nice trials, and I would be disappointed if he didn’t run well on Saturday.”
