Gavin Bedggood and John Allen have combined with Kingswood ($2.70) to claim the Group 3 Coongy Cup (2000m) at Caulfield on Wednesday afternoon, sending favourite punters home with a winner in the final race of the program.
The son of Roaring Lion put the writing on the wall first-up at Sandown on September 28, being well-backed prior to the jump before cruising to victory by 2.3 lengths to suggest he was a new horse heading into his second Australian campaign.
It was a big step up in grade from a BM78 to the Group 3 Coongy; however, the lightly raced four-year-old took advantage of a diabolically slow tempo on Wednesday afternoon, slotting into the one-one throughout the journey.
Close To The Sun ($10.00) was sent to the front under Craig Williams, ticking over some slow sectionals, turning the 2000m contest into a genuine sit-and-sprint in the concluding stages.
Allen was able to peel out on the favourable three-wide line turning for home and put the race to be with relative ease, while the market second elect Berkeley Square ($4.00) was unsuited by the shape of the race, making strong inroads when it was all over.
2024 Group 3 Coongy Cup Replay – Kingswood
Gavin Bedggood was delighted with the win as he spoke post-race, suggesting the Bendigo Cup could be the next logical target for Kingswood.
“Yeah, it all pretty much went to script really,” said Bedggood.
“Lobbed in a nice spot, Johnny (Allen) sort of popped him out on the three wide line just to make sure nothing sort of hemmed us away down the side and yeah it was comfortable.
“He didn’t look all that comfortable getting around the corner, but look he won well, and the second horse is a proper horse too, so he’s done a good job to come from a 78 to this company.
“Obviously his rating will shoot up but I sort of made a plan in the back of my mind the Bendigo Cup probably next into Queen Elizabeth maybe, but we’ll just Johnny’s feedback and go from there.”
John Allen spoke after the last and suggested he was never in too much danger with the way the race was run.
“It was quite a slowly run race,” said Allen.
“It looked like it was going to be that way, there wasn’t much pressure, and he was a little bit keen on me, so we’d gone so slow I looked to pull three wide early enough and take all excuses away from us.
“He didn’t get around the corner super because we were probably accelerating at that stage, and once he balanced up he let down good, got the wonders a little bit, but won with a little bit in hand I think.”
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