Andrew Bobbin is hoping his country Cup project horse Dubai Dominion’s detour to the city will pay off and provide him with his first city winner.
Bobbin has only been training for a few months and has set up a base in Stawell.
Dubai Dominion has had three starts for him with victories at his past two runs in the Nhill Cup and Koroit Cup at Warrnambool.
The five-year-old will run in the Quayclean Handicap over 1600 metres at Caulfield on Saturday.
“We bought him to be a country Cups horse so he’s doing his job and that’s still our focus,” Bobbin said.
“We’re aiming him at the hometown Stawell Cup at Easter and we’re considering the Colac Cup in a couple of weeks with him as well.”
Dubai Dominion was one of three older horses Bobbin purchased in order to get his career off and running, rather than wait around for the yearlings to come through.
The other two, Vigere and Jane’s Angel, have also won races.
Bobbin had his first starter on November 20 and in total has saddled up 17 runners for four winners.
He branched out on his own after working under Matt Cumani at Ballarat, when he started his training career with a handful of horses before buying a 200 hectare property at Stawell as half of the area has heavy sand which he likes to use for conditioning his team.
“I saw the property for sale and I thought it would be ideal for me,” Bobbin said.
“It’s ten minutes from the Stawell racetrack and that complements my training on the property.
“The heavy sand is great for the older horses. I’m a big believer in training on the heavy sand as it’s great for a horse’s fitness and doesn’t put as much stress on the legs.”
Bobbin said that although Dubai Dominion was racing in great fashion, it wasn’t going to be easy race for him at Caulfield.
“He’s the highest rater and has 60.5 kilos which is why I’ve used Campbell Rawiller and his three kilo claim,” Bobbin said.
“I’ve freshened him up. He’ll run well and be around the placings.”
