Cavanough team sneaks into Country Stampede Final

By Glenn Davis

There was no room for error when trainer Brett Cavanough left it to the last of the qualifying races to make the Country Stampede Final with The Hanger Cat at Doomben on Saturday.

The Hanger Cat - a James Orman mount in the 1110 metre Final - only snuck into the $105,000 feature courtesy of his win in the Country Stampede qualifier at Roma on November 16.

Cavanough is based at Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley region but has been campaigning with several horses in Queensland’s country regions for the past few months. 

Cavanough sent assistant trainer Stephanie Alexander to Queensland’s western country regions five months ago where The Hanger Cat quickly became the stable’s flag bearer.

The five-year-old notched up eight wins after arriving in Queensland.

He scored at Longreach (twice), Barcaldine (twice), Alpha, McKinlay, Betoota and now Roma following his first two wins interstate.

“I took a team of 10 to Queensland five months ago and we based them at Barcaldine,” Alexander said.

“We came back to Scone about a month ago when things started to slow down up north but we took a team of six back to Roma recently hoping to qualify for the Stampede and Country Cups.

“The Hanger Cat was lucky enough to win the qualifier and he’s in the Final but Burdekin didn’t do any good at Roma in his qualifying race for the Country Cups Challenge.

“He got in as an emergency in the Final, so he’s unlikely to get a run.”

Alexander was delighted when The Hanger Cat drew barrier three and won’t be afraid if there's rain and the track becomes rain affected.

“All his races, bar those at Barcaldine, were on dirt or sand tracks and he’s placed a couple of times on soft tracks,” Alexander said.

“The grass track won’t affect him either and he’s drawn well which will suit him.

“I’m hoping he runs well as he’s been running well and has a pretty good strike-rate racing against the same sort of horses.

“Jim (Orman) is one of the best riders and Brett was lucky enough to get him."

Alexander believes 1110 metres will be perfect for The Hanger Cat and has a healthy respect for the Bevan Johnson-trained topweight Han Dynasty.

Han Dynasty drew awkwardly in barrier 10 and will carry topweight with 62.5kgs with Corey Bayliss in the saddle.