Campton barn looking for another city winner

By Glenn Davis

Gold Coast trainer Adam Campton is confident former Hong Kong sprinter Charge On can bounce back from a minor setback to give him another metropolitan win at Doomben on Wednesday.

Campton nominated Charge On for two races at Doomben but elected to start him in the Class 4 Handicap over 1200 metres.

He was also an acceptor for the QTIS Benchmark 70 Handicap over 1350 metres but drew barrier eight in that race compared to two in the Class 4 event.

Charge On is coming off a last start fourth to the Tony Gollan-trained Comrade Rose in a Benchmark 72 Handicap over 1300 metres on February 4.

“He was supposed to run at the Eagle Farm Saturday meeting 10 days ago but he had a hiccup when he cut his hip on the float on the way to the track so we had to scratch him,” Campton said.

“I thought he had a great chance at Eagle Farm after he drew well that day.

“He can be a funny horse and is normally very quiet but something set him off in the float going to Eagle Farm.

“He looks perfectly placed in Wednesday grade so he should be very competitive.”

Campton has booked Brazilian jockey Elione Chaves who won on the six-year-old when the gelding landed his first win on Australian soil in a 1200 metre Class 3 race at Ipswich in December.

“Charge On is dropping back in distance slightly but he won well over 1200 metres at Ipswich three runs back,” Campton said.

Campton is rapidly making a name for himself as a trainer on the rise after arriving on the Gold Coast last year from Hong Kong, when he was training just two horses.

Fast forward 14 months and the 34-year-old Campton now has a team of 40 horses in work.

Campton has a strong racing pedigree but training was never his first choice of employment though he knew racing was in his blood.

His late grandfather Les Coles won the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double on Even Stevens in 1962 while his father Neil Campton was a Group 1-winning jockey.

Top Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan is also Campton’s uncle.

Campton trained his first Saturday city winner when former Hong Kong galloper Deepour won at Doomben on February 11.