Noted wet tracker Kaiser Franz will get his chance to win another feature race over the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival when he lines up in the Listed $175,000 Channel 7 Ipswich Cup (2150m) at Ipswich on Saturday.
Kaiser Franz, above in pink and black colours, will appreciate the wet track for the Ipswich Cup. Photo by Daniel Costello.
The Ipswich track was rated a heavy 8 on Thursday which is the main reason trainer Robert Heathcote had a change of heart and decided to back up Kaiser Franz this week following his tenth to Chocante in the Group 2 $300,000 Evergreen Turf Brisbane Cup (2200m) at Doomben last Saturday.
While Kaiser Franz was well out of the money last weekend on a good track, the six year old scored one of the upsets of the Winter Carnival when he arrived at $61 to win the Group 3 $125,000 Channel Seven Premier’s Cup (2200m) on a heavy 8 rated Eagle Farm track on May 27.
“It wasn’t our plan to go to this race (Ipswich Cup),” Heathcote told Racing Queensland News.
“The only reason he is running is because the track is going to be wet.
“What he lacks in ability he makes up for on a wet track.
“His goal all along has been the Caloundra Cup followed by the Queensland Cup.”
The Listed $175,000 The Pump House Caloundra Cup (2400m) will be run at the Sunshine Coast on July 1 and the Listed $150,000 Queensland Cup (3200m) will be run at the same venue two weeks later.
Kaiser Franz was only one of a handful of horses that handled the shifty Eagle Farm surface and Heathcote admits that he was disappointed when the remainder of the Winter Carnival’s Group 1 meetings were transferred to Doomben because of the substandard state of the Eagle Farm track.
“I was disappointed when the Brisbane Cup was switched from Eagle Farm to Doomben as he goes well on the bigger track with the softer surface,” Heathcote said.
“Two runs ago he was struggling to win in Benchmark races and a lot of people were surprised when he won the Group 3 race.
“But I suspected he would handle Eagle Farm better than the others in the Premier’s Cup and he did.”
Kaiser Franz has drawn the inside gate in the fifteen horse Ipswich Cup field and Robbie Fradd will be hoping for the same result as when they combined to win the Premier’s Cup two starts back.
Early betting for the Ipswich Cup at Ladbrokes.com.au has Kaiser Franz a drifting $19 chance while the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Sort After sits at the top of the market order at $3.60.
Top weight Benzini is also in contention at $4.60 ahead of Toowoomba trained Jumbo Prince at $5.50.
Sort After is coming off an Adelaide Autumn Carnival campaign where she ran fourth to Amelie’s Star in the Group 2 $275,000 Hughes Limousines Queen Of The South Stakes (1600m) at Morphettville on May 6 followed by a second to Exocet in the Listed $125,000 Centaurea Stakes (2019m) at Morphettville on May 20.
