News Article

Kasyanov vs Victoria

03 February 2010

He may be a Melbourne-owned expatriate Kiwi, but emerging five-year-old trotter Kasyanov will be draped Queensland colours if victorious in Saturday night’s $250,000 SEW-Eurodrive Inter Dominion final at Mooney Valley.

Confused? Don’t be. It’s just that as the only non-Victorian trained squaregaiter to qualify for the 2575-metre final his trainer Shaun Gillespie wants it known where his gelding’s allegiances lie.
“We’ll be trying to push the Queensland flag, “ the trainer said. “He’s owned in Melbourne but he’s trained up north so we’ll by flying the home-state flag, that’s for sure.”
Most would say Gillespie and his five-year-old son of Sundon have already represented the Sunshine State with distinction having made a star-studded final in his first trip to the home of Australian squaregaiting.
But the talented conditioner was always bullish it could be done.
“We were confident he could hold his own down here,” Gillespie said. “He’s broken a couple of track records in his time and run close-up to horses like Sovereignty back in New Zealand, so we knew he had the ability.”
That ability was matched by versatility in Kasyanov’s semi-final last Saturday night when leading Victorian reinsman unexpectedly sat the Banana Bender in the death chair before narrowly holding on for sixth placing to qualify for the final.
“We had no luck sitting back in the Cochran Cup,” Gillespie said. “So when I sat down with Daryl, we decided to put him in the race last week and luckily he hung on to make the final, which is a huge thrill.”
But don’t start talking about a fairytale win. Not this year at least.
“We feel it’s a massive success just to have made the final,” Gillespie said. “We knew he had talent but he’s only five and he’s still developing.
“We’re very happy with his draw (gate 9) and we’re not putting limitations on the horse but he’s done his job already.
“He desperately needs to put some weight on and then we’ll be back as legitimate contenders to win the race next year. That will be our time.”