Cairns Cup Champ Tunes Up for Brissie Trip

Cairns Cup winner Tutelage will take another step towards a summer Brisbane trip when he takes on a quality field of milers at Cluden Park tomorrow.

The son of Medaglia D’Oro will line-up as a leading hope in the Ede Events Open Hcp (1609m) at his second run back from a spell on a rain-affected Cluden track.

Tutelage turned in a cracking run first-up to finish fourth to The Tax Accountant over 1400m a fortnight ago and rises to a more suitable trip.

But it is fitness rather than the wet track that could pose the main barrier for the five-year-old according to his Tolga trainer Janel Ryan.

With a win on a “bottomless” heavy track at Innisfail last year wet conditions shouldn’t be a problem.

“We were rapt with his first up run and he’s come on nicely since. The only worry is the second up syndrome but we think we’ve got him pretty right,” Ryan said.

“The main aim is to send him to Kelly Schweida in Brisbane and see if he can win a no metro race there.

“There’s no lead-up races up here for him and Kell said you might as well him down and try him in town.

“We’ve always had a bit of an opinion of the horse and it was great for his owners to see him win the Cairns Cup. 

“The breed gets better as they get older and he’s much more mature. He’s come a long way from a big horse that knew nothing when we first got him.”

Tutelage has been a long term project for Ryan and her husband Ron who had Cup aspirations for the gelding from a very early stage.

After coming to the stable from Godolphin as a maiden in late 2019, Tutelage has risen through the ranks to become one of the North’s best stayers.

From just 25 starts, the forward-going galloper has won eight times, with his biggest victory to date in last year’s $150,000 Cairns Cup (2100m).

He followed that success with a strong third in the Cairns Amateur Cup (2100m) in September before going for a spell.

Ryan said she would see how the gelding pulled up after his second up run before deciding on another start before going to Schweida, who was Ron’s best man at their wedding.

Tutelage faces a quality line-up tomorrow that includes impressive last start winner The Tax Accountant, the evergreen Langhro, 2020 Townsville Cup winner Shiranda, and Townsville Cup placegetter Play Me Now.

The fast draining Cluden track was still rated a Soft 7 on Thursday afternoon despite recording 125 mm of rain in the 24 hours up to 9am (total for the week 182mm).

Racing starts with the first at 1.34pm and the last of eight events at 5.40pm.

Pictured: Cairns Cup winner Tutelage (pink and black stripes) finishes right on the heels of The Tax Accountant and Langhro in his first-up run. He will clash with them again at Cluden on his way to a Brisbane trip.

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