More silverware for Sambora

Bendigo trainer Karen Fox and the Prince Syndicate are having a ball with their Keep The Faith gelding Sambora.

The five year-old’s trophy cabinet is fit to burst after his victory in the St. Patrick’s Cup (1900m) at Geelong last weekend and there’s more silverware on the horizon later this month.

Sambora (5g Keep The Faith – Zandero by Danzero) won last year’s Kerang Cup and Avoca Cup for his connections who include Karen’s husband Allen, her mother Mary Olive, Tim Harvey and Kym Batty who manages the Prince Syndicate.

“Kym and the boys are squabbling over who should keep the St Pat’s Cup – it’s big enough to swim in,” Fox said tongue-in-cheek.  “But it was Mum’s birthday, so she might have the inside run.”

Sambora will be nominated to defend his Kerang Cup crown on March 30 and Fox will keep her options open with entries for the Stawell Cup on March 31 and a race at Caulfield over the Easter long weekend.

“It all depends on the weather – he doesn’t handle wet tracks,” Fox revealed.  “He’s won 6 races and every one of them has been on a Good 3.

Fox bought Sambora for $30,000 at the 2009 Inglis Classic yearling sale.  “He’s a big, strapping horse and took a while to learn what was required.  Now he’s on top of the game and thinks he’s pretty clever.”

The St. Patrick’s Cup brought up a winning double for Greta West Stud sire Keep The Faith at Geelong.  Earlier in the day, Wayward Son broke his duck in the East Geelong Medical Centre Maiden (1900m).

Wayward Son (3g Keep The Faith – Court Dancer by Rokosz) appreciated racing past a mile for the first time in his six-start career for trainers Mat Ellerton and Simon Zahra.  His dam Court Dancer won over 1800m at Flemington and she also split Group 1 fillies La Volta and Lisa’s Game when runner-up in the 1998 Auraria Stakes at Cheltenham.

Part-owner and breeder Dennis Malcolm races Wayward Son with a syndicate that includes Don Carroll, Ben Cooper, Leo Iazzolino, Steve O’Sullivan and Kent Williams.  Court Dancer has a yearling colt by Keep the Faith and a colt on the ground by Swettenham Stud sire Equiano.

Keep The Faith (Sunday Silence) has sired 51 individual winners of $1.14 million in Australia this season and that’s come on top of a few near-misses in the last month.

Trust in a Gust went down a nose on debut in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush at Bendigo on March 6 while In Faith was beaten a lip in the $100,000 LR Bunbury Stakes on March 10.  And his promising three year-old Keep the Cash was runner-up in the $100,000 LR Tasmanian Derby.

Keep The Faith will stand his second season at Greta West in 2013 and broodmare owners can contact studmaster Laurie McCarthy on 0410 476 196.

– Karl Patterson