Bedggood gang tackles the 2025 Cranbourne Cup

Gavin Bedggood will be strongly represented at his local feature meeting, assembling a sizeable squad as he aims to claim the Cranbourne Cup for the first time.

His stable supplies four of the 18 acceptors for Saturday’s Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m), though Bedggood admits that not all may line up.

This may assist emergencies Pondalowie and Scheelite, who have drawn ideally in barriers one and two.

Two of Bedggood’s headline runners, Casino Seventeen and St Lawrence, have fared poorly with gates 16 and 18. As a result, he is weighing up the $200,000 Kilmore Cup (1600m) on Sunday as an alternative.

“He wants to get a soft run, do no work and be getting clean air late,” Bedggood said of Casino Seventeen.

“Drawing 18 he probably has to go a long way back and it probably sets him a bit of a task.

“He’s got a nomination for Kilmore, so that might be an option.

“It’s not ideal for St Lawrence either. The Kilmore Cup is an option on Sunday, so we’ll have to have a look and see how it pans out.”

Jennilala appears best placed of the runners drawn, coming up with gate five for Declan Bates. Charterhouse — who won the Cup two years ago when trained by Ciaron Maher — has barrier 13.

Bedggood said Jennilala’s last-start performance should be overlooked entirely due to the extreme conditions.

“She was very plain last start, but it was very heavy ground, and you wouldn’t have even known she had gone around,” he said.

“She just had a day out on the heavy conditions. Her form previously had been pretty solid, so she should land in a prominent spot from that draw.

“She’s a lovely sound horse that has been effective on dry ground, so hopefully we’ll get that.”

Charterhouse has been lightly raced since joining the stable, winning first-up before a disappointing run at Seymour, though Bedggood believes circumstances may favour him despite the wide draw.

“His win for me at Sandown he was close to the speed but when he won the Cup here two years ago, he came from well back,” Bedggood said.

“I would say he lines up. There looks to be decent speed and he’s drawn wide, so it should generate good speed for him early with horses pushing forward, so it might not be that bad.”

Presser, who had also been nominated for the Cup, was deliberately diverted to the Kilmore Cup instead.

“As well as he is going, he’s still an 82-rater and small fish are sweet sometimes,” Bedggood said.

“We would like to keep earning prize money with him, so I’m happy to aim a bit lower with him at this stage.”