Lavin looking for another double

One of the good stories in QLD racing in recent times is Caitlin Lavin and the start to her training career. Even with just a small team of around six in training from her farm at the Sunshine Coast Lavin has produced winners at a regular basis and fiver of her last seven runners have won or placed.

D’JET has always been labelled the best horse in the stable and he was good again on the weekend after  an ordinary get away to pick himself up and be beaten under 2L. It is fair to say he was entitled to get a little tired after what happened at the start as he then picked up and went quite hard in the run.

SHOW US A SMILE is a 4 year old son of Show A Heart who has a good race record and comes off a good win over 1350m. “He is good, pulled up well from his last start and has done everything right since then but this is a more difficult task.” Lavin said.

He would only have to produce a similar effort to last start to go close again. The same could be said for PICKABEE who was dominant in her last victory also when winning by nearly 3L with 58kg in a fillies and mares class 3. This race looks tougher against the boys but Caitlin explains the horse is doing well. “I didn’t know whether to start her or not on Wednesday but she has done so well I need to run her because she is jumping out of her skin and if I don’t run her she is going to hurt herself. Ryan Wiggins rides her with the topweight and he knows her well, she is not a horse for an apprentice because she is too much of a fruit loop, so she just needs the senior rider.”

Caitlin went on to explain that D’JET is still probably the best in the stable but feels that PICKABEE does has the potential to take that mantle if she can continue to progress this time in work.

I didn’t realise that although there is only the six horses in work at Lavin Park there is almost 40 horses on the farm when you include broodmares and foals etc. It is a huge amount of work, not to mention the travel to and from race meeting in Brisbane as well as a 90 minute round trip to the Sunshine Coast for track work four times a week.

I really hope the BRC and other clubs start really trying to use the great women we have in QLD racing and that is just another way to show the more women involved or even going to the races, the better off racing will be. Caitlin, Nat McCall, Desleigh Forster are just of a few of the great strike rate female trainers we have at present as well as a few very handy female jockeys.

Good luck to Caitlin Lavin tomorrow and don’t be surprised to see her horses salute again at Eagle Farm!

**For the BLACKBOOK followers there are three runners tomorrow: