He manages one of the best private thoroughbred complexes in Queensland but Brenden Mackay will return to Sydney intent on confirming his rise as a trainer.
Mackay will head to Randwick on Saturday with Craiglea Cruz, a sprinter with a Sydney form angle after a last-start second to the Wyong-trained Mount Nebo at the Sunshine Coast.
A win in the benchmark race will be a reward for careful placement as Mackay juggles training with his duties at Waverley Park where he manages the bloodstock interests of prominent owner Les Cowell.
It will also bring back memories of his early days in racing after working for Bart Cummings and later the master trainer’s son Anthony.
“I spent about five years at Randwick before heading overseas,” Mackay said.
He returns with a horse tailor-made for a racetrack that will be rain-affected with Craiglea Cruz figuring in the money six times from eight starts in soft and heavy going.
“We’ve been wanting to give him his shot in Sydney and it’s been a matter of waiting for the right race or what we felt the right race would be,” Mackay said.
“The horse has always had ability but we’ve found that he’s very effective at 1000 metres.
“Even though he was a good two-year-old and a good three-year-old, racing against his own age he was able to get that solid 1200 metres.
“But turning into his four-year-old season, the way we’ve trained him, and what he has shown us, I’ve tried to keep him at the 1000 metres because he races so well.”
Mackay will bring his jockey with him, confirming promising apprentice James Orman will have the Randwick ride.
Orman has won three races on the sprinter.
“He is a young jockey who has got his head screwed on,” Mackay said. “He rides very well and has a great understanding of the horse.”
Mackay, who runs Waverley Park with his fiancee Megan Bale, took out his licence to train 12 months ago and Craiglea Cruz has been an instant pin-up horse for the stable.
“It’s only our first year of training and it’s nice to have a flagship horse,” he said.
Craiglea Cruz is among 13 horses nominated for the main sprint race with Cradle Me (61kg) and Senta De Noche (60kg) heading the weights.
