Dandino being primed for a 2015 Caulfield Cup assault
ENGLISH import Dandino is progressing well towards the 2015 Caulfield Cup after spending time at the Warrnambool Beach.
The globetrotting stayer finished second behind Fawkner in the 2014 Caulfield Cup, before running fifth behind Fiorente in the Melbourne Cup later that year.
It was trained by Marco Botti when it was scratched just two days before last year’s Caulfield Cup, due to a damaged suspensory ligament.
“Last year he was going super and we thought he was going to go close to winning, but he went amiss in his final gallop,” said Darren Dance, manager of Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock which owns Dandino.
“We decided rather than send him back to England, we’d give him to Darren Weir with the idea of having another crack at the Caulfield Cup.
“He spent a few months at my farm and since then Darren Weir sent him to his Warrnambool stables and he’s been under the care of Daniel Bowman for a few months.”
The beach environment is used by a handful of trainers, especially those wanting their horses to recover better from injury. The softer ground allows their muscles to get better conditioned and Dance thinks the eight-year-old is in good order.
“He’s been doing shorter, sharper work on the beach and he’s in great shape,” said Dance.
“He’s ticked every box along the way and he’s loving it down there.”
Dance has just returned from England where he was scouting horses to buy for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
“We’ve got a couple on the radar but it’s very competitive,” he said.
Dance added that Dandino will trial at the start of next month and run fresh up in late August.
“We’d be looking at him running in the Caulfield Cup (October 17) at his third or fourth run back from a spell, but we have to requalify first,” he said.
Dandino is currently quoted at $51 for the Caulfield Cup with bookmakers, with talented youngster Winx heading the market at $13.
Well-performed runners in Hartnell, Noble Protector, Delicacy and Mongolian Khan are on the second line of betting at $15 with Japanese star Bande at a value price of $21.