Castalong Shadow may not have been able to repeat his success at Bathurst’s Gold Crown Carnival on Saturday but his trainer-driver Geoff Simpson was still happy with his efforts.
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The Lithgow colt finished 10th in the $55,000 Group 2 Gold Chalice final for three-year-olds, 12 months after surprising everyone with his Gold Crown victory.
His chance to achieve a rare Crown-Chalice double disappeared on the first corner of the 2260-metre race when he was pushed wide and couldn’t recover.
John McCarthy’s Lifeonthebeach ($17.80) claimed the $27,500 first prize after leading home the field ahead of Nathan Jack’s War Dan ($20.40) and Ross Pike’s Code Bailey, who was the $2.60 favourite.
Simpson knew he was going to have to tough race after drawing barrier seven, wide on the front row, and Castalong Shadow didn’t have enough speed to get to the inside pegs before the first corner.
Instead the colt was forced to travel four wide and Simpson dropped him back to the tail of the field along the back straight.
“Once he got caught wide and fell back it was going to be hard to get back into it,” Simpson said.
“It wasn’t a bad run, he just had back luck”
It was Bernie Hewitt’s Mackeral ($3.70) who set the pace early in the Gold Chalice final as he used his barrier one draw to advantage and took the lead.
Mackeral had beaten Lifeonthebeach by a comfortable 13.1m in their heat earlier in the week, so driver Todd McCarthy knew he had to be wary.
On the bell McCarthy had his $17.80 chance in fifth – three back on the pegs – before peeling out of the trail following a hot 27.7 seconds third quarter.
He came five wide down the home straight and grabbed victory by a head over War Dan.
Castalong Shadow moved past two horses in the closing stages to finish 10th.
In the 12 months between his appearances at the Gold Crown Carnival, Castalong Shadow suffered a virus, but until he was able to trace it, Simpson was worried his runner was moving away from his potential.
However after watching the Shadow Play x Leslie Jay progeny finish third in his heat and even his run in the Chalice, Simpson is convinced the colt is back.
“He seems to be back to where he was before [the virus]. He was good as a two-year-old but some of the others have improved a lot as three year olds,” he said.
