HAWKESBURY horse trainer Mike Van Gestel is heading back to Kembla Grange this Saturday to try to clinch for the Hawkesbury a second Polytrack Provincial Championships Final representative.
Van Gestel announced the ambitious plan after his underrated three-year-old Charlie Chap returned to the winning list at last Friday’s Kembla Grange Classic meeting.
With Jeff Penza aboard, Charlie Chap ($19) was the widest runner on straightening in the Benchmark 67 Handicap (1200m), but Charlie Chap ran down his rivals in an impressive performance.
Whilst his victory wasn’t a surprise, his odds certainly were.
Charlie Chap started $3 favorite on resumption at Orange on March 5 in a Class 2 Handicap (1000m) when fourth to another Hawkesbury runner, Brad Widdup’s I Am Special.
But his run was so much better than it may have appeared on paper.
“Charlie Chap nearly fell that day; it was a really strong run in the circumstances,” Van Gestel said.
“He is a good horse, and we’ll come back to Kembla for their Provincial Championships qualifier.
“I’ve always had a good opinion of him.”
The $150,000 qualifier – the fourth of five in this year’s series – will be run over 1400m on Saturday.
Charlie Chap’s Kembla Grange victory was the 51st for Hawkesbury-based trainers since the beginning of the calendar year, and the third of his career.
His previous wins were the two-year-old Silver Apple (1000m) at Orange in April last year, and a Benchmark 64 Handicap (1100m) on his home track last September at the beginning of his three-year-old season.
Hawkesbury currently has one representative in the $500,000 Provincial Championships Final (1400m), to be raced at Royal Randwick on April 14. Brad Widdup’s Witches – Hawkesbury’s first winner of 2018 at that track on New Year’s Day.