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The story behind the $71 into $5 betting plunge that struck gold

Plunge horse Tidal Rush. Photo: Cavanough Racing.

 

 

By Clinton Payne
11:23pm • 28 November 2021

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Scone trainer Brett Cavanough didn’t hold any real hope for the future of Tidal Rush but the horse will forever be the centre of one of Australian racing’s great betting stories.

It’s a rare occurrence in the modern day that a trainer and connections put one over the satchel swingers but Cavanough and the owners of Tidal Rush did just that at Dubbo on November 14.

As a youngster, Tidal Rush found himself at the Rosehill stables of Hawkes Racing before they sacked the son of Headwater. His only public appearance in Sydney saw the gelding beaten over 12 lengths in a Canterbury barrier trial.

After a short break, Tidal Rush then found himself heading to Cavanough’s Scone stables with a ‘see what happens’ tag.

“How it all unravelled was amazing, it all happened at a million miles an hour,” Cavanough said.

“I gave him about 11 weeks work and sent him off to the trials at Muswellbrook.”

Ten horses contested that Muswellbrook 1000m barrier trial, after the last following their October 18 race meeting and it’s fair to say the future looked pretty bleak for Tidal Rush.

He finished 12-3/4 lengths behind the winner of the heat, handy country galloper Time For Victory, but he was also five lengths behind the second last finisher.

Brett Cavanough. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty Images.

 

“I said to (jockey) Ash Morgan, “I think this is slow”,” Cavanough said.

“Ash come back and he goes, “cantering to the gates I thought you were taking the p*&#, it’s the best actioned horse I’ve ridden for a long time but boy it’s slow when he gets into a gallop”.

“It was under the whip in the trial and got beat almost 13 lengths”.

As far as Cavanough was concerned Tidal Rush was on his way back to his owners to make way for a juvenile with an unknown future but that’s when their luck changed.

“I’d just about given up but five days later I put the blinkers on him and ripped him up about half a mile with one that can gallop and ‘hello’ he beats it a few lengths,” Cavanough said. “I thought hang on.

“The next time I worked him, he had the blinkers on again, I put the E-Trakka on him and so not to draw any attention to him with all the other trainers about, I left the track.

“I went up to the coffee shop and watched his gallop on the computer, on E-Trakka.

“In the gallop he produced the fastest E-Trakka reading I’ve seen since I’ve been in Scone. Just a fast horse, faster than horses like It’s Me, Fender and the like.

“I said to myself, whoa, here we go.

“I didn’t even tell Lauren, the wife. She heard me talking to one of the owners and asked me “what’s happened” and I said I’ve just got a fast one. She said “which one”, I said “I can’t tell you”.”

Cavanough entered Tidal Rush in a 1010m maiden for colts, geldings and entires and the scene was set.

“We were heading down to Newcastle on the Saturday and one of the owners rang and said he’s 70/1,” Cavanough said.

“I said to Jack (Cavanough – son) “you better pull the truck over to the side of the road we’ve got a bit of business to do”.

“We started chipping away at him and also rolled Street Power at Newcastle on the Saturday into him about 500/1 for a couple of dollars.”

TAB’s Andrew Georgiou reported the betting fluctuations were $71, $34, $26, $21 down to $5.50 on race morning and according to Cavanough, “I must be a s*&# punter because they kept letting me on”.

“I broke all the rules,” Cavanough said.

“I put a tongue tie on him for the first time, he’d never had one on him, never jumped out in the blinkers, he’s worked in them certainly, twice but he’d never seen the barriers in them.

“I put a two kilo kid (Madeline Owen) on.

“Took him to the races. There were raps on (Max) Whitby’s horse, Cameron Crockett’s (Ga Ga Gus) and the Brett Thompson stable liked their horse (Rhythmic Song).

“When we got to Dubbo, I think he opened about $6 and got out to $7.50 and we went again.”

Tidal Rush started at $5 and when the barriers opened, Owen put her mount straight into the box-seat, eased three wide at the top of the straight and set about chasing down Rhythmic Song, overhauling the leader in the shadows of the post.

“The bookie Richard Knight said to me at Dubbo, “I’ve been swinging the bag for 50 years and I’ve never seen one like that”,” Cavanough said.

“When we were leaving the track a bloke said to me “you’ll be able to pay for Christmas now” and I replied “and the year after and the year after that.”

“I’ve been training about 20 years.

“I had my 900th winner last week at Quirindi, a horse called Clifton Springs.

“I’ve probably had more than 700 horses, maybe less, pass through my care and never have I had a situation like this fall into my lap.

“That’s how it all played out. Everything fell into place.”

Finally, the million-dollar question – was Lauren, Cav’s wife, looked after?

“She gets everything anyway,” he said.