Michael Grantham is set to resist the lure of next month’s TABtouch-Hannan’s Handicap (1400m) with the talented Kaptain Kaos, following his win at Belmont on Saturday.
The four-year-old made it five wins from six starts under the care of Grantham in Saturday’s IRISNDT Handicap (1200m), narrowly defeating Crystal Spirit and Reign Of Fire in a tight finish.
It was Kaptain Kaos’ biggest test to date and he had to sustain a run from the 600m to get the better of his rivals.
Despite the stylish performance, Grantham said running in the Hannan’s Handicap wouldn’t be the best thing for Kaptain Kaos in the long term.
“The furthest he’s travelled for me is to Bunbury,” he told TABradio.
“He does nothing on the float, but I just know his make up and sometimes he can be a light switch.
“If that light switch gets turned on I know he won’t be the horse that he can be.
“I don’t want to ruin that by taking him to Kalgoorlie when he can be competitive at Ascot.”
Grantham also said he was mindful of the rating points Kaptain Kaos could get if he was to win the Goldfields feature.
Grantham said he gained confidence from jockey Chris Parnham’s feedback and hoped the gelding could go up in distance this campaign.
“It was obviously a great run for him,” he said.
“Every time I’ve stepped him out he’s stepped up to the standard and he’s doing nothing wrong.
“It was a bit relieving that Chris said to step him away from the 1200 and put him to a 1400.
“I want to try and stretch him out even to a mile if we could.”
Kaptain Kaos’ win capped off a big 24 hours for Grantham, who steered Whatabro to victory in The West Australian Pace (2130m) at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
It was the Michael Brennan-trained pacer’s first win in WA at his sixth start since coming across from South Australia.
Grantham said he wanted to be positive on the gelding from barrier two and eventually found his way to the front.
“It was a bit of bullish drive by myself,” he said.
“He went really well the week before and even when Voaky (Chris Voak) had been driving him he had those good couple of runs under his belt.
“I thought he was going to be the best horse in the race and he proved that.
“I think there’s a couple more wins for him.”
