All roads lead back to the Central West for Brett Cavanough

By Jordan Gerrans

The Central West of Queensland will always hold a special place in the heart of Brett Cavanough and the top trainer is eager to have representation from his stable at a historic race meeting this Saturday.

The Scone trainer will this week kick-off what is expected to be a month-long stay in the region for his team of horses.

He has six gallopers nominated for Tambo’s non-TAB meeting this Saturday, which will be held to celebrate the club’s 160^th anniversary.

On the Friday night before the races, the Tambo and District Race Club are hosting a special dinner, welcoming both past and present members as well as the public to reminisce about the rich history that has shaped their racing tradition.

The club will be showcasing an array of memorabilia.

Brett enjoyed Group 2 success in the Sunshine State with The Monstar in the Moreton Cup at Caloundra back in 2018.

Former Toowoomba jockey Skye Bogenhuber struck up a close bond with The Monstar during his time racing in black-type company.

Brett attended primary school in Tambo in his younger years and has always dreamed of sending a team of horses north from his NSW base.

Brett’s uncle Rab Cavanough and his family lived in the town for most of his life.

“They were all reared there, my uncle, his family and his wife,” Brett said.

“I went to school there for a short period of time at a very young age, I think I was in grade one or two back then when I went to the local school.

“I have always had the family tie to Tambo through my uncle and aunty. My uncle trained race horses and was a bit of a figure out that way.

“There is a lot of people out there I still know. It is a close-knit little community and it has always been a good racing town.”

Brett was born into the racing industry, riding track work at the age of 12 before school for his grandfather Frank Cavanough, who was also a mentor for one of Victoria’s best trainers, Peter Moody.

Brett is unlikely to make it to Tambo this Saturday with his assistant trainer Stephanie Alexander taking the horses north.

As Alexander is anticipated to remain in the Central West for around a month, Brett is keen to make it to at least one of the meetings and has identified Alpha as his pick of the bunch.

Alpha races on the last Saturday of June and the town is where Brett’s grandfather Frank hailed from.

“I would love to get to Alpha at the end of it – I really would,” he said.

“That is where my grandfather was and spent a lot of time there.

“I would like to like to get up and do it but obviously with 70-80 horses in work at Scone it makes it hard but I will do my best to get there.”

The historic anniversary meeting at Tambo has attracted huge nominations with 86 entered to contest the six races on Saturday.

With the Northern Rivers of NSW having a large number of their race meetings washed out this year, plenty of horses from the Cavanough stable are in need of a run so the Central West sojourn made sense.

“I have always wanted to do a run up through the middle of Queensland with the horses,” he said.

“I just had these horses and this was an opportunity to do it.

“It is good prize money from what I can see and there is also some incentive races as well.

“I love supporting community meetings and the grass roots – Tambo, Augathella, Charleville and Alpha. It is great to have these horses there to support the meetings as well as just be a part of it.”

The plan is for the team to stay on following Tambo to race at Barcaldine, Longreach, McKinlay and then on to Alpha.

Alexander will base the horses at Barcaldine during June.

Apprentice hoop Kelsey Lenton – who was previously based in Townsville – will ride the Cavanough team at Tambo this Saturday.

The stable has Fusaichi Family, Burdekin, Proud With Pride, The Hanger Cat, Shaggy Rogers and Snowy On The Trams nominated for Tambo.

Fusaichi Family is also entered for the Highway Plate in Sydney on Saturday.

“They should all run good and they all have reasonable Northern Rivers form,” he said.

“The Hanger Cat is a progressive type that could press on.”

The Tambo Cup on Saturday doubles as a heat of the Outback Racing Showcase.

The Outback Racing Showcase series consists of six heats before a $30,000 Final at McKinlay in late June.

The annual ORS is a popular series in the bush.

To be eligible to compete in the Final, a horse must have earned points in a minimum of one of the six heats and a horse must have competed in a minimum of three events at country level in Queensland over the last year.