Last Saturday’s Townsville Cup winner Chivadahlii could continue his North Queensland campaign if connections decide to run the rising six year old in the $75,000 Red Beret Hotel Cairns Cup (2100m) at Cannon Park in Cairns on August 12.
Jockey Bobby El-Issa, above, rode Chivadahlii to victory in the 2017 Townsville Cup. Photo by Daniel Costello.
The Rockhampton trained Chivadahlii fought out a tough win over the Lyle Rowe trained Legal Procedure to win the $100,000 Mater Townsville Cup (2000m) at Cluden Park in Townsville last Saturday.
Winning trainer Jamie McConachy said that he would have to meet with Chivadahlii’s group of owners before confirming a start in the Cairns Cup in a fortnight.
“He could go to Cairns for the Cairns Cup in two weeks but I’ll need to talk to his owners first,” McConachy said.
McConachy decided to bypass the $100,000 Rockhampton Cup (1600m) at Callaghan Park in Rockhampton on June 24 and concentrate on the winning the Townsville Cup.
Along the way Chivadahlii ran second in the $75,000 Mackay Cup at (1800m) at Ooralea Race Course in Mackay on July 1 and prior to his Townsville Cup victory won the $25,000 Townsville RSL Royal Rewards (2000m) at Cluden Park on July 15.
“He ran fourth in his first run for me and then he ran second in the Mackay Cup,” McConachy said.
“I told the owners to forget about running in the Rocky Cup as he was looking for ground and the Townsville Cup would be ideal for him.”
McConachy encouraged New South Wales based jockey Bobby El-Issa to ride Chivadahlii ($4 favourite) in the Townsville Cup and he got the job done in a driving finish to record a neck win over Legal Procedure ($7) with Justin Stanley in the saddle while third placegetter Flying Light ($8.50) with Adrian Coome aboard ran his best race since entering the Barry Baldwin stable.
“I normally use Brad Stewart but he had Doomben commitments so I gave Bobby a call as we’ve had some luck together in the past,” McConachy said.
”This is a good horse. He’s had four or five trainers including Darren Weir and B J Smith but he’s going well up here.”
Chivadahlii was only having his fourth run for McConachy in the Townsville Cup after coming through the hands of top New South Wales trainer Greg Bennet, leading Victorian trainer Darren Weir and Eagle Farm trainer Brian Smith.
