Knock Off (NZ) (Fabulous) has proven to be a horse of a lifetime for Wanganui trainer Gerard Cvitanovich, who will be vying to record his first stakes victory on Saturday when his charge contests the Gr.3 Hunterville Vet Club Metric Mile (1600m) at Trentham.
The semi-retired dairy farmer has been training intermittently over the last 30 years, and has contested three previous stakes races, but Saturday presents as his best opportunity as he gets set to line-up the $6 equal favourite for the mile feature.
The occasion will be a true family affair, with his son Nick having bred the son of Fabulous, while his three other children, brother and wife also share in the ownership of the horse.
“I have got four kids and they are all involved, as is my brother, and my wife, Rachel,” he said.
“They all like to have a bet, go to the races and have a look around, it’s good.”
The lightly-tried gelding has won four and placed in three of his 11 starts to date and has been in a purple patch of form this preparation, winning three and placing in one of his four starts this time in.
Cvitanovich has been over the moon with his gelding’s meteoric rise and he is looking forward to testing him at stakes level for the first time this weekend.
“It is good to give him a go at it and we will just see what level he is at,” he said.
“He is very well and he seems to be enjoying his work. It is a good time to have a go at something like that.”
While Knock Off has recorded three of his four victories in the last few months, Cvitanovich said he has shown ability from the outset.
“In his first start he was a pretty close third to Valley King of Kevin Myers’, who went on to win four (from five starts),” he said. “He was always a good horse to have around and work, and the results have been a bonus really.”
Knock Off will jump from barrier four on Saturday and will be ridden by Leah Hemi.
“We don’t want to be too far back, we want to be fairly handy to them, so I hope that’s alright there,” he said.
Cvitanovich said the remainder of Knock Off’s preparation will be dictated by his performance this weekend, with next month’s Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m) a possibility if he performed well.
“There is another race at Wellington in a month’s time and that is how we have been spreading his races,” he said. “We will just wait and see how he is after this and how it all fits in, he might need a holiday.”
