Chris Alford and Dean Braun celebrate after Cruz Brumac wins the Casey Classic.
“We’ve had some really nice horses, but I think potentially this guy could be the best I’ve had,” said Dean Braun, moments after his talented five-year-old Cruz Bromac won the Group 2 Casey Classic.
“He’s pretty scary in what he can do and he’s relatively green.”
Braun’s five-year-old Falcon Seelster gelding put in a super performance, punching through the breeze outside Alotbettor and while the pace took a toll on the New South Wales visitor Cruz Bromac muscled on.
The $50,000 stakes were hotly contested with Admiral Bronski, Mister Wickham and El Major pouring on the pressure, but the leader held up.
“It was a really good field tonight,” driver Chris Alford said. “He had to do all the work sitting outside the leader, but things worked out OK early, we didn’t have to burn too hard and then got to the breeze nice and he was still really strong up the straight.”
For such a field, the first two quarters were ticked off pretty comfortably enabling Cruz Bromac to hit the line with a 55.2 last 800m and win in a 1:56.4 mile rate.
“He’s strong, but he has really high speed as well. He’s still a little bit funny in his gate, but once he all sorts himself out he will be a really good horse.”
It’s a fact well-known to Braun, who has a soft spot for Cruz Bromac.
“I don’t get sick with too many horses making me nervous, he is one of the three. He’s a very special horse,” Braun said. “To have Chris on him tonight and win this race, I’ve had a bit of luck in this race, it’s pretty special.
“He’s had 15 starts and the sectionals he can run are pretty amazing really, and he’s not a one-trick pony as some people think he is. He can sit parked like he did tonight, he can lead, he’s devastating off the sprint as well. He’s very, very fast.
“We will just see what happens. This was his man target early in the season. We will just give him a quiet time after this and reassess.”
Media enquiries:
Michael Howard (HRV Media/Communications Co-Ordinator)
t: 03 8378 0286 | e: mhoward@hrv.org.au | tw: @MichaelRHoward
