SCORE ONE FOR THE UNDERDOG AS THE INFLICTOR STRIKES IN THE GATEWAY FOR TRAINER CRAIG COUSINS

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, December 10, 2024

The uncertainty of racing is its biggest selling point. No question about it1

The number of small-time trainers who have chased and run down their dream provide every bit as significant a contribution to the magnificent, multi-layered landscape that is the story of horseracing as anything else.

With no disrespect to those who pay big money for their horses, some of which win time after time after time, the tale of an underdog biting back is what really sits very close to the core of the heartbeat of racing.

For that reason, when an underdog thrives, racing is all the better for it.

Take the result of The Gateway at Eagle Farm on Saturday for example. The winner gets a ballot free entry in the $3 million Stradbroke … or … the connections of the winner have the right to negotiate another horse for the Stradbroke with The Gateway winners prize now also doubling as slot holders for the big race.

The runner who carried the day on Saturday to win this significant prize was The Inflictor, a four-year-old gelding trained by Craig Cousins.

Now Craig Cousins is a small trainer … scrap that. It is perhaps more correct to call him a hobby trainer.

If he had any less horse racing at this time, he would be down to one (that’s right he only has two horses in work) … and here he was with this homebred in the Gateway taking on the likes of horses from top stables like Tony Gollan (he has three of the eleven runners), Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald and Mick Price and Michael Kent (Junior) … and winning!

“To me he was always going to run 1400m and, when The Gateway option came up as a possible fortnight ago (when The Inflictor won at Doomben over 1350m), I thought I’d aim him towards The Gateway,” explained Cousins.

“There was also a Benchmark race on the card which I put him in, but then, when the noms came out, I thought … the horse has done well since he won the other … I’m on a hiding to nothing here.

“When I saw the noms, I just said to the owners … it’s a no-brainer. You have got to try for it. You have just got to have a go. In the original noms he was the highest rated horse in the race.”

The inflictor duly won The Gateway in his usual way … by a hard fought 0.40 length margin. Four of his five wins have arrived with winning margins of less than half-a-length.

“He’ll run whatever time is needed, if you know what I mean. He’ll win by a long neck. He will never win by six lengths,” said Cousins.

The Inflictor, who drifted from $13 to a starting price of $21 in the Gateway, did not race as a two-year-old had shown good early promise, winning two out his first four starts and he would later add another success to round off his three-year-old campaign with three wins from twelve starts.

“He was always going to be better as a four-year-old, with maturity,” said Cousins. “He was just a big, bumbling two-year-old. To me I always thought he would be a better four-year-old … and, I think he will be better again next preparation. I know that is an old saying, but I’m confident he’ll be better again.”

The beauty of a confirmed early Stradbroke entry is that Cousins has the freedom to plot and plan The Inflictor’s route to the Stradbroke to suit the horse.

“I don’t know if he will start here or in Sydney next time.
“I’ve got a race picked out for him in Sydney … January 3, a BM88 over 1200m … up the rise at Randwick. I’d like to go there just to tick it off the bucket-list.

“He’s the sort of horse too that you can take down. If it’s heavy 10, he will handle a heavy 10. He is adaptable.”

What about The Inflictor’s ownership group, who were pictured going wild with delight in the Eagle Farm grandstand on Saturday.

“That would have been the Bond 007 group and them boys. Others in the ownership have been with me from when they had a small share in Conquer The Stars. He won nine races.” (Conquer The Stars retired in June 2022).

While Cousins only has two horses in training he does have six horses on the books. The others are two-year-olds.

So, is that low number by design. Would Cousins perhaps like to have twenty-five horses, or so, in work?

“No. Not now. Those days are gone,” was Cousins’ emphatic reply, given without even a hint of hesitation. “I drive a truck during the day. If I wasn’t driving a truck maybe I’d train five … but you don’t make a living out of five.”

Which brings us down to the $3 million question.

What are Cousins thoughts on what might happen closer to Stradbroke day when wannabe, slot-holder partners start calling to get in on the act, ready to negotiate a deal?

“Well, that’s another thing for me … to have a runner in a Group 1 race. I’m in it aren’t I … and so are the owners who also be thrilled to have a runner there … and if he improves that three or four lengths I’ve been talking about, which I believe he can, it’s the same premise.

“We will have to go for it ourselves and I can do what I want getting him there.

“I’ll give him a good break after his next … two months maybe. Keep him out of the heat.

“I’ll see how we take it from there. It’s a nice problem to have.’

And The Inflictor’s win added another nice touch to the burgeoning resume of jockey Cejay Graham.

Graham has been an integral part of The Inflictor’s recent success and her ride in the Gateway proved to be a valuable asset for the Cousins trained horse on the day.

This was Graham’s second successive win aboard The Inflictor.

The Inflictor is sired by the 2016 Stradbroke winner Under The Louvre.

More articles