Gath still finalising Inter Dominion raiders

By Adam Hamilton

CHAMPION trainer Andy Gath could still have four runners in his quest for a second Inter Dominion.

Gath, who trained the millionaire trotter Tornado Valley to win the 2018 Melbourne trotting final, confirmed his pacer Catch A Wave was a definite and final decisions would be made on his Great Southern Star winners Callmethebreeze and Watts Up Partytime, along with Tango Tara, in the next 10 days.

“Watts Up Partytime is still in the mix. We’ll make the call on him before the others. It’ll come after he runs in the strong free-for-all over the longer 2240m trip this Saturday night,” he said.

“With Arcee Phoenix in the race, we should get a really good guide.

“There’s no doubt the marathon distance of the Brisbane final (3150m) isn’t suitable for Watts Up Partytime.

“The other thing with him is the travel. He didn’t enjoy his Sydney trip back in March. He’s a small, fussy horse and he’s comfortable here at home.”

Catch A Wave and Callmethebreeze both won trials at Melton yesterday, but with varying success, according to Gath.

“Catch A Wave was fantastic. You don’t go quicker than his closing splits and it was really cold and windy,” he said.

“He’s as good as we’ve had him, but he’ll need to be against Leap To Fame and Don Hugo, who have been the two dominant open-class horses for the past 12 months.”

Callmethebreeze beat some handy pacers in his trial, but still needs to convince Gath and his wife, Kate, he deserves the trip north.

“He much better than his previous trial, but he still got rocky in the last 100m which isn’t ideal,” Gath said.

“He’s very fit and really well in himself, but you’d love to see him do it all right.

“At this stage, he’s going, but we will run him at Melton next Saturday and see how that goes before locking anything in.

“He’s certainly been a challenge, but I’ve still got a few things I can try.”

Catch A Wave will also tackle a pacing free-for-all at Melton on Saturday week.

“He loves racing close together and I’d like to get a run into him before he heads up,” Gath said.

“Tango Tara will race next Saturday, too. Norm (Jenkin, owner) is keen to have a runner in the series and the old boy is racing consistently.”

PHOTO: Club Menangle/Pacepix