Rocky king aims up for third Cluden Park party

By Jordan Gerrans

They named the grandstand after the last horse to win three straight Townsville Cups and Namazu’s part-owner Pavel Cheimardinov thinks he has the horse to repeat the famous feats of Party King.

The Rockhampton gelding will be racing to put his name in the history books alongside the great Townsville galloper on Saturday in the $150,000 Cup over 2000 metres.

The legendary Party King was prepared by North Queensland Cups icon Errol Sewell.

The Townsville Turf Club named the main grandstand after the grand galloper at Cluden Park after he won the famous staying event in three straight years - 2000, 2001 and 2002.

He is the only horse to do it in three consecutive years in the history of the time-honoured event dating back to 1884.

That might be why his racing moniker will be branded across the grandstand for many years to come. 

Namazu enters the 2024 edition of the famous North Queensland staying feature with the 2022 and 2023 victories already on his resume.

Pavel and his close-knit ownership group have been on a magical journey with Namazu over the last few years and the Central Queensland businessman believes they have the galloper to equal Party King’s achievements.

“To win the Townsville Cup again, that has been our goal for a year since his last win up there,” Pavel said.

“The Archer earlier this year that he won was just a bonus for us really but I think we will be more excited to win the Townsville Cup again.

“This prep, this has always been his grand final since last year.

“The horse does not owe us anything, we paid $40,000 for him and he has now won more than $1 million already.

“It is more about creating history now. I think he is the horse that can win three in a row.”

In his mid-80s these days, Sewell does not have Cup-level gallopers any more in his barn.

He last prepared a winner in May and had a starter just last month at Cluden Park.

That three-peat of Cup fortunes with Party King added onto Sewell’s previous Townsville Cups of 1981 (won by Super Cavalier) and 1984 (Crewshade).

“You need a horse that can find a spot about mid-field as the race gets fairly full-on at the half mile mark,” Sewell says of what it takes to win a Townsville Cup.

“You need to be fit and tough.

"Party King would always make a long sustained run.

“They are pretty hard to find these days, horse's like that, as it is mainly about speed and sprinters.”

The way Sewell details it, that sounds pretty similar to the way Namazu has performed on the track in front of the Party King grandstand over the last two years.

Pavel Cheimardinov owns the grand CQ galloper alongside his father Saiar Cheimardinov, Peter Radford and Ravi Ramswarup.

Saiar is flying up from Canberra to be there to cheer on his Medaglia d'Oro gelding in person on Saturday while Pavel will make his way north from Rockhampton as well.

Fellow shareholder Radford is a close mate of Saiar’s.

The group have raced horses together for many years.

They owns shares in a large number of horses from the Ricky Vale team as well as a few others with stables around the state and country.

“When you get a horse like this and only pay $40,000 for him, it is different and a feeling you cannot replicate in business or in anything,” Pavel said.

“It has been fantastic for us, with my dad and a family friend who owns him as well.

“All our horses, we all own them together.”

The Central Queensland star has had an indifferent 2024 so far.

Namazu reached great heights by winning his hometown The Archer in late April at Callaghan Park as well as carrying a remarkable 68 kg to victory at Mackay in early March.

He headed south to Brisbane for a winter carnival mission but after one run in the Listed Spear Chief at Eagle Farm, where he finished well back in the field, Namazu headed home to CQ.

Lugged with huge weights in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at Rockhampton in late June and in his local Cup a few weeks later, the now seven-year-old did not figure in the finish on both occasions. 

In his prior two Townsville Cup campaigns, Namazu had finished in the money in the Mackay Cup in his lead-up run to the Cluden Park feature.

With the Mackay Cup to be run next Saturday instead of annually before the Townsville Cup, it has forced a change in preparation for the veteran Cups king.

The former Godolphin galloper carried 61 kg to victory in the 2023 edition of the race and he will face another challenge when he rises one kilogram with Ashley Butler in the saddle this time around.

Interestingly, Namazu has had three different riders in his Townsville Cup tilts.

Butler – who rode him in The Archer – has the booking this week while the now-retired Alex Patis did the steering in 2022 and Ryan Wiggins got the job done last year.

Namazu became the first horse to win the Townsville Cup in consecutive years since Party King in 2023.

Snippety Snip won the Townsville Cup twice since Party King’s trifecta but did so over a three year period.

Namazu has been unplaced in his last three starts but he returns to a track he is undefeated at this Saturday, currently boasting a 4-0 record at Cluden Park.

Pavel thinks his galloper will be spot on this Saturday.

He has also drawn a sticky gate of 12. 

“The Archer was a phenomenal win and we went to Eagle Farm and things did not pan out,” Pavel said.

“There was a few niggling issues with him around Rocky Cup time but Rick has been working on that and he feels he is back to being 100 per cent.

“I watched a gallop the horse did the other day and he looks fully back on that based on all that and his blood tests.”