Family affair for Vandyke

By Glenn Davis

It will be a family affair for trainer David Vandyke and son Bryson when the pair make the road trip north to saddle Sneak Preview in the Rockhampton Cup on Saturday.

Vandyke will have one eye on the Rockhampton Cup with Sneak Preview while he is also hoping for a rare double, almost 700 kilometres away with Bohemian Lad in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap at Doomben.

Bryson Vandyke works for Graham and Linda Huddy who run Peachester Lodge in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

“Bryson is going up for the Rockhampton Cup and he and I will share the strapping and the drive up,” Vandyke said.

“Bryson is a very gifted and capable horseman and has a bright future in the game.

“He does a lot of breaking in at Peachester Lodge and wants to train one day and I think he’ll do well.”

Sneak Preview is coming off a last start fifth in an 1810 metre Benchmark race at Eagle Farm last month and Vandyke is confident the rising nine-year-old will be competitive in the Rockhampton Cup.

Sneak Preview – a Justin Huxtable mount - is an $8 chance in the 1600 metre feature while Bohemian Lad is a $5 hope at Doomben.

Vlad Duric is booked to ride Bohemian Lad replacing suspended jockey Ryan Maloney, who was aboard the son of Better Than Ready in his last start win at Doomben last month.

Bohemian Lad was a $140,000 buy at the Gold Coast Magic Millions sales in 2022 and is chasing his fourth win at his sixth start.

He has already returned more than $100,000 in prizemoney to his owners which include media identity Paul Joice.

Vandyke has a big opinion of Bohemian Lad who had a wind operation after his second start in May last year.

Bohemian Lad’s win at Doomben was his first start in the metropolitan area and his first over 1200 metres.

“The only other time he raced over 1200 metres was when he ran second to Infancy who went on to win a Listed race and ran second in a Group 3 race at Randwick,” Vandyke said.

“He’s a nice horse and has drawn okay and obviously Tony Gollan’s Invincible Shield looks the one to beat.

“I’ll be disappointed if Bohemian Lad doesn’t run in the first three.”

Vandyke had no major plans in mind with Bohemian Lad and will see out the season chasing QTIS prizemoney.

“He’s a beautiful horse but he’d have to keep improving before we look at taking him away anywhere,” he said.

 “I just want to get him through this preparation before we consider anything else.”