By Tim O’Connor (HRV)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s onwards and upwards towards the Victoria Derby for excitement machine Catch A Wave, who bounced back from a shock defeat in devastating style on Saturday night at Tabcorp Park Melton.<\/p>\n
Gear malfunction was blamed for the Andy Gath-trained star\u2019s upset loss in the heat of the Alabar Vicbred Championship, but he could barely have been more impressive in winning the Group 3 final at Tabcorp Park seven days later.<\/p>\n
The three-year-old showed scintillating gate speed to lead the field from gate seven and was never headed on his way to a dominant 14m victory.<\/p>\n
He rattled off closing quarters of 28sec and 27.1sec to defeat Hugo Rocks (Ash Herbertson\/James Herbertson) and Ozzie Playboy (Julie Douglas\/Jack Laugher) in a mile rate of 1:54.6min for the 2240m trip.<\/p>\n
Gath told thetrots.com.au he was unsure exactly what lie ahead for Catch A Wave en route to the October 8 Derby, but was pleased with the professionalism on show in his 10th\u00a0career win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just relieved he bounced back and it was a step forward manners wise,\u201d Gath said.<\/p>\n
Driver Kate Gath was in awe of Catch A Wave\u2019s early zip.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis gate speed is something else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve driven some fast horses off the gate. Blatant Lie many years ago – he was exceptionally fast \u2013 but this guy, I was just a passenger out the gate tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t fire him off the arm, that was just him doing his thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe settled pretty good after. We do have a little bit of pulling gear on him to get him to settle. As you saw last time in, he was leading and getting too keen, ripping up the back too hard and it wasn\u2019t doing him any good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy that he came back to me tonight. I think the track is fast because I felt like I was dawdling through the middle there. And it was relatively cheap, but the mile rate was still pretty quick and he did that pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win completed a double for Andy and Kate Gath after Pull The Other Leg made it two wins from two Australian starts with a classy win in the DNR Logistics Pace.<\/p>\n
The former Kiwi scored by more than 9m in a mile rate of 1:54.6m over the 1720m trip.<\/p>\n
Geoff Webster landed a training double with Dougs Babe and Belmont Royale, while Daryl Douglas scored two driving wins thanks to Interest Free\u2019s victory in the night\u2019s feature \u2013 the $40,000 VHRC Caduceus Victoria Sires Classic \u2013 and Art Of Sheng Li\u2019s swooping performance in the HBV Stallion Guide Amarillen Matriarch Pace (second heat).<\/p>\n
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By Tim O’Connor (HRV) It\u2019s onwards and upwards towards the Victoria Derby for excitement machine Catch A Wave, who bounced back from a shock defeat in devastating style on Saturday night at Tabcorp Park Melton. Gear malfunction was blamed for the Andy Gath-trained star\u2019s upset loss in the heat of the Alabar Vicbred Championship, but […]<\/p>\n