John Sargent held Casual Connection (NZ) (Complacent) in high enough regard to contest the Gr.2 Brisbane Cup (3200m) earlier this year, and the Complacent gelding made a welcome return to form in Saturday’s A$120,000 Midway Handicap (2000m) at Rosehill.
Casual Connection earned his Brisbane Cup opportunity with an impressive win over 2400m at Randwick in late May. He went on to finish ninth in the Eagle Farm feature, then had kicked off his new campaign with a 12th, an eighth, a fifth and a close last-start fifth over 2400m on the Kensington track on October 30.
Sargent stepped the six-year-old down in distance for Saturday’s Midway, and despite a testing impost of 59kg and a tough wide run, Casual Connection surged into contention in the straight and scored a tight but tough win in the hands of jockey Kerrin McEvoy.
“I hadn’t ridden the horse in this preparation, but ‘Sarge’ told me he’d been happy with him,” McEvoy said. “He was coming back in trip for this race. We didn’t have a lot of luck in terms of slotting in. Everywhere I went to try and get in behind someone, I couldn’t. But he toughed it out well.”
Casual Connection has now had 33 starts for six wins, nine placings and A$346,975 in stakes.
“I was probably saying a few expletives against the jockey when he was caught three wide,” Sargent joked. “But he had the horse balanced, and then he was able to find a little bit of cover. In the end, the horse outstayed them.
“He’s run a bit better than his runs might look in his last couple of starts. I thought he was at false odds today, because he does like a bit of the cut out of the ground. It’s good to see him back in form, and hopefully he can go on from this.”
By former Mapperley Stud stallion Complacent, Casual Connection is out of the three-win O’Reilly mare Casual Fling (NZ) and is raced by the Davisons of Mapperley Stud in conjunction with the Sargent family.
