Big Price, big promise: Tenenbaum set for Hawkesbury test

Brad Widdup has called Hawkesbury home since taking out his trainer’s licence and thinks he can finally have some success on the stand-alone Saturday next weekend.

It might not be in the Hawkesbury Cup or Guineas, but two-year-old Tenenbaum will look to lift the Clarendon Stakes on his way to Brisbane.

“We haven’t been able to win one of the big ones, I think our best is fourth in the Cup, but this bloke goes really well,” Widdup said. \

“He is the most expensive horse Mulberry has bought for us at $750,000, and he looks worth it.

“What he has done on the track matches what we are seeing at home. It will be a good test for him.”

A brother to Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat, Tenenbaum has blood links back to Makybe Diva on the dam side, and he has shown ability from the time he got into the stable.

Widdup had desires on testing him on the Golden Slipper path, but a setback at the wrong time meant he had to win a Wyong maiden the weekend after Slipper day.

“We had him ready for the Skyline Stakes and Tommy [Berry] was happy to ride him, but we just had to back off him,” Widdup said.

“He has come back from it really well, and Wyong was what we were expecting.

“Tommy is booked on Saturday, and he has taken the right steps since that win,” Widdup said. “It is usually a very good race, so it will give us some idea where we stand.

“He has been up for quite while, so it is a run at a time, but I think the extra trip will suit him and Brisbane is an option for him.

“We have seen Cap Ferrat win a Derby and be competitive at stakes level here and this bloke is pretty athletic and should get over a trip as well.”

It will be the 21^st running of the Hawkesbury stand-alone meeting, which has spurned similar Saturdays at Gosford, Scone, Newcastle and Kembla Grange, and the Clarendon has become one of the better form races on the card, which includes the Cup, Guineas and Crown, for fillies and mares at stakes level.