The rain that was falling at Cranbourne on Wednesday was music to the ears of trainer Gavin Bedggood.
And with more rain forecast before the Cranbourne Cup meeting on Saturday, the smile will be hard to wipe from his face.
Bedggood, a former jumps jockey, will saddle Sir Kalahad in the feature sprint of Saturday’s fixture, the Apache Cat Classic (1000m).
In Bedggood’s eyes, Sir Kalahad is not a 1000m horse, especially on a good surface, but on a soft to heavy track the gelding grows another leg.
Sir Kalahad was successful on heavy ground in June and travelled to Adelaide where he ploughed through a heavy 10 surface to score at Morphettville in July.
He had one more start, finishing midfield at Sandown over 1300m before a freshen up with Bedggood giving the gelding two starts over 1000m.
He did a creditable job finishing sixth to The Inferno in Group 2 McEwen Stakes at The Valley in September before finishing a last start fourth, of five, at Sale on October 6.
“If we get plenty of rain on Friday and Saturday and the track is in that heavy 10 category, it definitely wouldn’t surprise me,” Bedggood said.
“The horse is in fantastic order. He had a jump-out eight days ago and could not have trialled any better.
“He’s bright, he’s well, his work has been fantastic. He’s had a long campaign, but his runs have been well spaced.
“He probably goes from a 40/1 or 50/1 chance in that sort of race to single figures in the market on a heavy track.
“The 1000 metres has never really been his distance, but heavy ground probably slows a few others up and he really excels on it.”
The Apache Cat has attracted nine acceptors with Adelaide galloper Dexalation opening the $3.20 favourite with TAB from ahead of Bless Her ($3.50) and local galloper Blazejowski ($3.90).
Sir Kalahad is currently a $14 chance.