Wagga, Muswellbrook previews: Pepper ‘on target' for Cup success

Mercury

01-05-2025

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Luke Pepper aims to take centre stage at Wagga after having played a cameo role in one of the greatest races ever run in the Riverina.
This year's carnival marks the 21st anniversary of the then unknown Queanbeyan gelding Takeover Target's extraordinary win in the Class 1 on Wagga Town Plate Day with Jay Ford aboard.
'I still remember the day pretty clearly to tell you the truth,' Pepper said.
'Jay rang me and said 'I am riding the best horse I have ever ridden in my life' and I said what is it and he said 'oh, this horse that's in the Class 1.
'And I had a look and I said to Jay; 'it's drawn 16, it's no hope from there, it's won a Maiden at Queanbeyan.
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'And he said, I'm telling you, it goes good.
'It led for fun and broke the course record so he wasn't far wrong, Jay.'
Pepper may have started out as a doubting Thomas when it came to Takeover Target but would go on to become one of his closest disciples, travelling the world as the Moruya-bred gelding's trackwork rider.
Pepper's 2025 Wagga carnival ambitions are well beyond a Class 1 as the Canberra-based trainer has his sights set on the feature Gold Cup which comes with the added reward of Big Dance Eligibility.
Pepper's Cup contender is the Yarraman Park Stud bred mare Helluva Soiree who has managed to win four or her last five starts, punctuated by an unlucky fourth in the Canberra Cup Preview.
'Obviously we know it is an absolute quantum leap from what she's been racing in but she's a mare in form, she loves the track and Claire's (Ramsbotham) got a very good understanding of her, they're a good combination,' Pepper said.
'She's got a good gate so she should be in the right spot. She'll have every chance.
'I'm just excited to have a runner in the race but funnier things have happened with these mares when they're in good form.
'She doesn't know what she is racing. I can't fault her, she can't be in any better order leading into the run.'
Pepper, meanwhile, has a strong hand to play on the race prior to the Cup with stable pair Keikoku and Cyclone Rupert flying the flag.
Barnstormer Keikoku has won four races in 30 starts.
The son of five-time Group 1 winner Dream Ahead's only two runs at the Wagga 1200m were a win and last start fourth in the Town Plate Prelude.
'The wide barrier is not too much of an issue for him,' Pepper said. 'We'll ride him and let him have the last crack at them.
'He won at the track and his last run there was huge the other day.
'He's honest and never lets us down. He can't be going any better than what he is.'
Cyclone Rupert, meanwhile, left a favourable impression at his first run for Pepper when come from well back to finish fourth in the Cup Day Sprint at Orange on April 11.
'We were absolutely rapt with his first-up run,' Pepper said.
'Stepping to the 1200m second-up reads really good for him.'
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Trainer Brett Cavanough has done his bit to ensure another 'feature win' is added to a family that has been churning them out for close to half a century when Zumbo tackles the Miss Finland Handicap.
Zumbo is raced by Cavanough's wife, Lauren, on a lease arrangement with Segenhoe Stud.
Zumbo, a daughter of the Widden-bred Zoustar, can trace her own lineage back to Molokai who was a highly influential foundation mare across Segenhoe's owners past and present.
'There's a bit of history there,' the Kosciuszko winning trainer Cavanough said.
Zumbo took no time to get off the mark, winning a Grafton Maiden on debut in the last days of January before the break.
'She was pretty sharp in a jumpout the other morning,' Cavanough said.
'She is a big gangly thing, obviously she is furnishing, but she's an improver, she's well-bred and she's got the form on the board.
'Everything lines up to run well.
'Did I expect to hit a Heavy 10 first-up? No I didn't. Is she ready to run? Yes she is, she's had plenty of work so she'll be going to the races.'
Zumbo's dam, Panna Cotta, was a city winner and stakes placegetter in just four career starts.
One of them was her third in the Scone Jockey Club's Listed Woodlands Stakes, run at Rosehill that year.
And while Cavanough has the 2025 carnival in his backyard as an option for Zumbo, there are other times and places that would suit her equally well.
'I'd take a deep breath and let her recover from a run on a Heavy track and try and find a good track, give her gallop, and aim somewhere without running into the big boys,' he said.
As well-bred as Zumbo is, Cavanough's got one better in the opener, namely Naftali.
The son of Deep Field is the fifth foal of Gracie's Lass who is best known as the dam of Blue Diamond winner Artorius.
Naftali has been a costly conveyance for punters, beaten three times when an odds-on favourite.
'He should have won a Maiden by now but he's had genuine excuses,' Cavanough said.
'I'd never bag him.
'Ideally I would like to see him on top of the ground on Friday then we could say well, he is or he isn't.'