Kavanagh Jnr Prepares Spinning Diamond For Debut
When Sam Kavanagh dared to dream of the Schweppes Thousand Guineas with Spinning Diamond, there was really only one path he was going to plot with the promising filly.
The rookie trainer watched intently last year as Atlantic Jewel, who is prepared by his father Mark, progressed from a provincial win to Moonee Valley success and then onto Guineas glory.
Kavanagh Jnr doesn't consider Spinning Diamond in Atlantic Jewel's class, but his filly achieved the first leg of his spring plan when she won on debut and will now get her chance in the same race Atlantic Jewel won last year, Saturday's $80,000 Boscastle Plate (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
“I've followed my dad around since I was a kid and I would have been silly if I didn't watch and listen a little bit,” he said.
“This time last year he had Atlantic Jewel come off a Geelong maiden into this particular race and then go forward two weeks into another fillies race at Caulfield and then onto the Thousand Guineas.
“I'm certainly not saying that we're Atlantic Jewel, but that's a similar preparation to what we're hoping to follow.”
Spinning Diamond, a daughter of Hard Spin, proved herself worthy of being tested at a spring level in Melbourne when she won comfortably on debut at Morphettville on 1 September.
Despite having worked impressively on the training track as a two-year-old, that was the first time Kavanagh had been able to get her to the races.
“She'd always shown us tremendous ability, but we just kept being very patient with her,” he said. “She kept growing, she's quite a big filly, and we don't like to put too much pressure on them at a young age when they're having growth spurts.
“In her first couple of gallops as an early two-year-old she was working up with Alezan Thunder, who went on to run third in the Magic Millions, so we always had time for her it was just a matter of when she stepped out and when she put it all together.”
Spinning World is the only three-year-old filly in Kavanagh's team and he has Trevor Robertson to thank for that.
The prominent South Australian breeder races horses with Kavanagh's father – including Midnight Martini, who is also engaged on Saturday – and is also in Southern Speed and gave Kavanagh a hand when he obtained his licence earlier this year.
“He wanted to give us a horse to kick off with and she was the only unraced horse they had, so they said have a go, which we were very excited about,” he said.
The Spinning Diamond team will get a good guide on how she measures up on Saturday with the Boscastle Plate attracting a number of youngsters who have already performed well at the top level.
Malasun won a Blue Diamond Preview, Formidable beat home all bar Samaready in a Blue Diamond Prelude, Mama's Choice and Big Chill are Black Type winners, while there are a host of other promising youngsters engaged.
“You've got horses in this race that are already proven horses,” Kavanagh said. “We're not going there expecting to win or anything like that, we're just putting our filly in the deep end and if she is going measure up to this grade this will give us a really good guide.
“If she doesn't measure up she can come back to Adelaide for an easier race and have the spring off.”
If that's the case, Kavanagh won't be disappointed.
“I've got to say, I wasn't expecting to be part of the spring in my first year, so this is nice,” he said.
“We're only in a fillies' race, but it's pretty nice to be going across and to have one good enough to even consider putting in a nom for the Thousand Guineas is a bit of a thrill.”
-racingvictoria.net.au