North Queensland return beckons for Quothquan

By Glenn Davis

Last year’s Townsville Cup winner Quothquan will be on trial for another Northern Queensland Winter Racing Carnival campaign when the gelding returns to racing at Doomben on Wednesday.

Quothquan steps out for the first time since running in the Gold Coast Stakes in the middle of March in the Benchmark 78 Handicap over 1350 metres.

Jockey Dylan Turner, who won last year's Townsville Cup on Quothquan, has been booked for his Doomben comeback.

Hobby trainer John Dann will be a happy man if Quothquan can earn a return trip north to defend his Townsville Cup crown.

Dann’s biggest win of his lengthy training career was with Adiella in the $500,000 Magic Millions National Classic at Eagle Farm 12 months ago before Quothquan embarked on his North Queensland campaign.

The Toowoomba-based Dann has a small team of three horses in work, while he concentrates on running his spare parts trucking business.

“I’m only a hobby trainer with three horses in work at the moment, but I’ve got a lot of young horses coming through,” Dann said.

“Quothquan is a chance of heading back north for the winter Cups, but he’ll need to prove he’s worth taking away when he runs at Doomben.

“He hasn’t raced for a few months after failing in the Gold Coast Stakes and he’ll probably need the run.”

Dann is still mystified after Quothquan beat only three home in the Gold Coast Stakes.

“We still don’t know what happened to him at the Gold Coast,” Dann said.

“Dylan couldn’t work out what went wrong, but the track didn’t help.

“He lost his footing on the soft track when he struck a wet patch on the corner and lost all confidence.”

Dann had Quothquan vetted after the race, but nothing was found amiss with the six-year-old.

“My vet went over him after the race, but he couldn’t find anything wrong with him, so I just sent him for a spell,” Dann said.

“He was supposed to run a few weeks ago, but he missed a lot of work because of the wet tracks.”

As well as winning the Townsville Cup last year, Quothquan also performed well during his northern campaign and finished third in the Rockhampton Cup and fourth in the Mackay Cup.

“It’ll be a lot harder going up there again this year with the $500,000 bonus on offer for any horse who wins the Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns Cups,” Dann said.