Mornington trainer excited about targetting Group 1 sprint with untapped gelding
As confident as Pat Carey is in Recon’s ability, after his first-up fifth placing in a Listed race at Flemington he dared not dream he would so soon be single-figure odds in a Group 1 event.
But a stunning second-up win in the Hareeba Stakes virtually compelled the canny Mornington horseman to consider the $1 million The Goodwood with the untapped four-year-old.
The lightly-raced gelding showed rapid improvement to thrash his rivals in the 1200-metre Listed event on his home track’s biggest day of the year on April 18, which convinced Carey he was worthy of a shot at South Australia’s most famous sprint.
“After he won the Harbeeba, he jumped something like 17 (ratings) points, so it ruled out a lot of the last bit of progress through the grades he had,” Carey said.
“So, he’s basically obliged to run in sort of Listed-plus races now, anyway.
“We still think that there’s more to come with him at 1400 and maybe further, but he deserves his opportunity at this level, at this time of his career.”
The Hareeba Stakes was the sixth win of an 11-start career that before this campaign had not taken in anything beyond benchmark 84 grade.
Carey, who in 2023 entered into a training partnership with Harris Walker, is enjoying having a horse so highly-fancied in a feature sprint race.
He has tasted Group 1 success on four occasions but never below 2400m with his elite-level winners being Cederberg, winner of the Tancred Stakes, Oaks winners Arapaho Miss and Gondokoro and ATC Derby winner Ethiopia.
Carey has liked what he has seen from Recon since the Hareeba Stakes win, though, and is confident in a strong showing at Morphettville.
“He’s been kept up to the mark, he had a nice gallop on the course proper at Mornington today and he’s continued to hold good form,” Carey said from Bendigo on Saturday.
“We’re optimistic about where his future is going to take him.”
Recon is a $7 chance in The Goodwood market, which is headed by $5 joint favourites Extragalactic and Flying For Fun.
