Herne and Pengelly combined to notch another double for the stable at the Sunshine Coast with Mr Cha Cha and Cocoa Bar both scoring impressive wins. The wins made it two doubles in two weeks, hot on the heels of a double at Doomben on Melbourne Cup Day.
Mr Cha Cha was the first to salute. He put his best foot forward today when we won the Number One Quality Homes Class Two Handicap over 1200m in impressive fashion.
The Four year old by Snitzel has found a new lease on life since being gelded and today’s dominating win may give both horse and trainer Brad Herne confidence moving forward.
“This horse came to me as a three year old colt at the start of the winter racing carnival to target carnival races,” Herne said.
“There’s no other way to describe it but he was a pig of a horse. You always had to stand over him to do anything with him and he just refused to go in races. The only glimpse of his ability he showed me was at a Deagon trial when he romped in running good time.
“The Westaway’s decided to keep him and get him gelded and he’s a completely different horse, very tractable and it makes my job a lot easier.
Mr Cha Cha arrived in Brisbane with solid two year old credentials having run second in the Listed Canonbury and Black Opal. He failed to fire as a three year old and kicked off his four year old season as a gelding a fortnight ago when beaten by a nostril at the same track.
“I expected a big improvement today as last start he went in with no trial and it really was like a barrier trial for him. I wanted to keep him as fresh as possible to see if he still wanted to be a racehorse and he came out and had a go which is the first time I’ve seen him do that. Today’s win will give him some confidence and a horse full of confidence can go on and do anything.”
Mr Cha Cha led from barrier to box. He was brilliantly away and was leading comfortably within the first 200m and it was clear as the field entered the straight that he was full of running and in the final 200m he kicked away to score by three and a half lengths in a time of 1:12:32 on the Soft 6.
