2020 Melbourne Cup favourite Surprise Baby is eyeing off a return to the racetrack.
The seven-year-old has been sidelined since February with a hock injury and his new trainer Gavin Bedggood is stoked to get him back racing given how talented he is.
Speaking with Andrew Bensley on SEN Track, the Cranbourne based trainer has all but forgotten the injury given it's not a problem anymore.
“We’re a young stable starting out and horses like that don’t come along every day and I was pretty stoked to receive that phone call,” he said.
“He had a couple of hoops to jump through before he could go back to the races with having that fracture in the hock, he had to gallop over the 1000m in front on the stewards yesterday at Cranbourne and get the all-clear from my vet, which he has.
“He’ll have a jump-out next Monday morning and then another vet test and provided he gets the all-clear from that, he’ll be able to be nominated for a race.
“Touch wood up till this stage he’s had not a sore day, that injury doesn’t really bother me at all, I don’t acknowledge it in the morning because it’s just not a problem.”
Surprise Baby has not raced since his 13th placing in the Melbourne Cup last spring and if he passes his final vet test next week, Bedggood will run him over 1400m at Caulfield on the 27th of November.
“He was nearly able to win a Feehan first-up last preparation and even though he’s ran in the last two Melbourne Cups, he’s still been more than competitive in shorter races,” he said.
“I think he’s pretty forward and the plan with him is to kick off in the Kevin Heffernan Stakes over 1400m at Caulfield in two and a half week’s time and what we do post that is whether or not he goes to the paddock and get’s ready for the autumn or he may have one more run but time will tell.”
The gelding had previously raced 14 times for Horsham trainer Paul Preusker with earnings of just under $1 million.
He was famously purchased by Jogn Fiteni via an online auction for just $5500.
Surprise Baby is currently rated a $34 chance in the 2022 Melbourne Cup.
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