'Toothless Tiger' ready to resume at Cluden

By Garry Dell

Brilliant three-year-old gelding Beau Rain might carry Bill Kenning's Townsville stable nickname of "Toothless Tiger" but he is ready to put the bite on his rivals when he resumes at Cluden Park on Sunday.

Beau Rain, winner of four of his six starts and an unlucky second in the other two, will return to the track after a four-month break in the Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1200 metres.

Kenning revealed the reason for the nickname.

After winning his first three starts at Cluden, Kenning took the Sidestep gelding to Mackay for a two-year-old race with plans to test him against Rockhampton and Mackay gallopers in preparation for the rich 2YO Classic run at Cluden. 

Beau Rain finished an unlucky second and then was involved in a fall after passing the post in which jockey Bonnie Thomson was injured. 

"We thought the horse was okay initially but when we put him back in work he was almost impossible to steer," Kenning said.

"He went to Tracy Watts, who does a great job with horses' teeth and mouth problems, and she discovered he had four dead teeth which needed removal.

"She finished up removing six altogether and that solved the problem.

"He gets through his tucker okay and is such a beautiful horse to handle.

"I don't give him a lot of work but do a fair bit of beach paddling because he's just a genuine race horse and doesn't need knocking about in trials."

Beau Rain was a closing second first-up in July against older horses over 1000 metres in a Class 3 Handicap on a Soft 7 at Cluden on July 4 and then led throughout to win over 1300 metres against his own age on a Soft 5 on July 21.

Apprentice jockey Isabella Teh - who claimed two kilograms to ride Beau Rain at 58.5kgs in his last win - has the ride again on Sunday.

Kenning said Teh would be able to put the horse in a winnable position from barrier two and not have to lead.

Meanwhile, Kenning's other three-year-old Roweiner's Dance, which he owns in partnership with long-term partner Julie Bell, has come through his first start under trainer Lindsay Hatch in fine fettle and will line up at the city meeting at the Sunshine Coast this Saturday.

"We had an offer from Hong Kong to buy the horse subject to the usual vet checks but then didn't hear anything more so we put him in an online sale but he didn't reach the reserve we had on him," Kenning said.

"Hopefully he'll make the grade in Brisbane and there's some good races coming up which carry QTIS bonuses."