The only good news for Caspar Fownes after yesterday's barrier draw for the HK$18.5 million Singapore Airlines International Cup is that the trainer can stop blaming himself because he wasn't even there.
Thumbs Up continued an extraordinary run of bad gates for Fownes-trained runners in major events when he came up with barrier 11 in the field of 13 runners, severely denting what looked a great chance for him to win the big event he always promised.
Fownes' other stable star, Lucky Nine, has had very wide draws in several of his major targets this season but Thumbs Up has fared even worse, with the seven-year-old in gate 11 or wider in four of his previous seven races this season.
The trainer recently banned himself from drawing the gates, so was blame-free this time, already in the air and on his way back to Hong Kong after spending 36 hours overseeing the final touches to the gelding's preparation in the past two mornings' soggy track sessions.
'The horse is great in himself - I couldn't be happier. The warm weather here suits him and there are no signs of the internal bleeding that everyone knows has been a niggling issue with Thumbs Up for a long time,' Fownes said before departing. 'His final serious work on Tuesday was great, he looked very well this morning just out for something light. The horse is great and I think he has the form to win the thing - all we need is a low draw because on the short course here, you just can't win coming from last.'
Dale Bussey, who is travelling with Thumbs Up for Fownes and riding his work, literally gave Tuesday's gallop a 'thumbs up' then his face creased with pain at the draw. 'Everything else was perfect and it looked his race - now it is complicated again,' Bussey said.