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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Sam Kavanagh can see parallels between his emerging galloper Kayobi and Rustic Steel, last year’s winner of the $500,000 The Coast, and is hoping to emulate that galloper’s feats starting at Gosford on Saturday.

Trainer Sam Kavanagh (Pic: Bradley Photos)

A year ago Rustic Steel came off a fourth placing in the Provincial-Midway Championships Final to win The Coast and backed up six days later to claim the Scone Cup which earned him a spot in the Big Dance, a race he also won.

Jay Ford rode Rustic Steel with 52kg in the race last year and Kavanagh’s charge will carry the same jockey and weight in his attempt.

“He profiles very similar to Rustic Steel last year, Jay Ford on, 52kg, off a fourth in the Provincial Championships,’’ Kavanagh said.

“If he goes and wins, like Rustic Steel, we’ll probably back up in the Scone Cup.

“I keep a good eye on these new races. I’d love to try and qualify him for the Big Dance or the Five Diamonds and keep him in Sydney and keep aiming at that good prizemoney.

“These races are important to owners who race in NSW and are important to us as trainers. Racing NSW has put them on for us and we take them into very careful consideration.”

Kavanagh said Kayobi, $7.50 with TAB on Thursday, wasn’t comfortable in his fourth placing in the Provincial-Midway Final last month but was pleased with how he rallied.

He pulled the four-year-old out of last week’s Rosehill assignment when the track was downgraded so as to not jeopardise a plan he’s had in mind since he had to miss the Four Pillars back in the spring.

That’s why Kayobi contested the Gosford qualifier of the Provincial-Midway series.

“I’m not convinced he doesn’t handle the wet but given how the track was on Saturday and how it was downgraded quickly, and The Coast was the race we wanted to aim at, I felt it was the right time to not run,’’ he said.

“He just hated the ground (at Randwick) and Brenton (Avdulla) said until he picked the bit up in his mouth he didn’t go at all. There’s a big difference between wet ground at Randwick and wet ground at other tracks.

“The way we’ve gone into it hasn’t been the plan but you can only play the cards you’re dealt.

“He galloped very well last Tuesday and galloped very well this Tuesday. I toyed with putting the blinkers on him but I felt four weeks between runs, blinkers on, up to a mile was the wrong play.

“He’s a strong travelling horse it’s only when you go for him he can hit that flat spot when he aims up at them or drift out for a couple of strides.”

With just seven starts against his name, Kayobi is the least experienced runner in The Coast but clearly he’s a horse with plenty of upside.

Kavanagh said he feels a mile will be no issue for the gelding, given his pedigree, and plans to make some use of barrier four. What happens from there comes down to whether he can measure up.

Kayobi wis at Gosford in March

“You go back on his form going into the Provincial Championships everyone was talking him up with the sectionals he was running that he was a potential stakes level horse,’’ he said.

“These are stakes level horses and if he’s going to be competitive it’s going to be with 52kg.

“Jay’s a good go-forward jockey and with no weight you’ve got to go forward. I don’t want him to lead, he’s a better chaser, so if something could lead I’d be much happier but you don’t want to be getting too far back.

“We’re just hoping that lightning strikes twice.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Gosford meeting