If Curran can pull off the feat of winning the feature sprint on Mornington Cup Day, it will mean so much to mother-and-daughter training partners of Lyn Tolson and Leonie Proctor.
Curran runs in the Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, coming off a victory in the Country Discovery (1200m) at Geelong on Good Friday.
While success in the Mornington Cup would be a nice to have on their record, victory in the Hareeba Stakes would be equally as special, especially for Tolson.
“I would love to win the Hareeba,” Tolson said.
“II started riding trackwork at Mornington when Hareeba was actually there, so, it would be very special to win it.”
Hareeba was a leading sprinter of the 1990’s when prepared by Ken Newman at Mornington, winning 10 of his 26 starts including two at Group 1 level.
Curran, who was purchased via an on-line auction for $600, has won a little over $755,000 for Tolson and Proctor from his five wins from 26 starts.
Tolson said Curran appreciated the give in the ground at Geelong and would like similar conditions on Saturday, although she concedes the tight track may not be advantageous to the sprinter.
“He’s pretty bright and bushy tailed. And the Geelong run didn’t take much out of him,” Tolson said.
“It looked like it did, but he travelled home, got straight into his feed and hasn’t missed an oat since.
“He did appreciate the bit of give in the track as we had a few feet issues with him last preparation, but we gave him a good break and his feet have been good this time.
“He can run on top of the ground, but we had so many dry tracks that did suit him, so a little bit of give will help him, and I think we’ve got him pretty right.”
With Tolson’s grandson Matthew Cartwright still on the sidelines through injury, Craig Newitt, who rode the sprinter to success at Geelong, again has the ride.
Tolson said her grandson was eager to get back to riding.
“Matty went to the specialist last week,” Tolson said.
“He’s out of the moonboot now, but he’s still got a little bit of a way to go, then there is the fitness.
“He was a bit disappointed to miss the win at Geelong, but he was thrilled that he won.”
