Caballus back with a bang to claim Ortensia Stakes
Trainer Bjorn Baker, who once held Everest ambitions for Caballus, has reason to aim high with the four-year-old again after his dominant win in the Listed $200,000 Ortensia Stakes (1100m).
This was the same Caballus who showed considerable promise last season but lost his way during the spring with five unplaced runs. He was then gelded and also underwent throat surgery.
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Baker wasn't at Scone on Saturday but his stable foreman Glen Lobb said Caballus had been hinting for some weeks that he was ready to finally realise his potential.
'Josh Parr has been riding Caballus in his work and about a month ago he said this horse was airborne, he's a different horse after his two surgeries,' Lobb said.
'Caballus had been trialling well and we were confident he would be hard to beat today.
'He had a good run from the inside barrier but he slightly missed the start and had to do a bit of work to get up there.
'Then he over-raced a bit and I was a little worried but when he let down, he let down good.
'The race opened up beautifully for him and he was very impressive. He's in for a good preparation, he's a very nice horse.'
Caballus, ridden by Ashley Morgan, was confidently backed into $5.50 equal favouritism and he powered past early leader The Novelist ($13) to win by three-quarters of a length with Firestar ($26) just over a length away third.
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Ostraka and Pisanello were also sent out $5.50 equal favourites and ran fourth and fifth respectively.
Caballus continued the breakout seasons for Baker and Morgan.
Baker, who is second the Sydney trainers premiership with 77 wins, has now prepared 25 stakes winners for the season including three at Group 1 level, for stable prizemoney for nearly $24.5 million.
Morgan has also had a sensational season. He is nearing a century of wins on all tracks, he rode the first Group 1 winner of his career on Private Harry in The Galaxy, and Caballus was his sixth stakes win.
'It was good to see this horse do that today and hopefully he gets some confidence from that win,' Morgan said.
'I rode him work during the week and when you get the chance to sit on him, you understand why they have such a high opinion of the horse.
'There was so much to like about his effort today, particularly the way he attacked the line. He really wanted to win.'
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