Dodson has a ‘cool’ take on Kosciuszko Prospects

Coffs Harbour coach Brett Dodson has some ‘cool’ offers for winners of a ticket in the rich $2 million Kosciuszko lottery which will be drawn on Wednesday September 11.

The Kosciuszko is the world’s most expensive race for country-trained horses. Each horse in the 14-horse field is nominated by a lottery winner, who then wins a share of the nominated horse’s prize money.

Dodson, who has trained 353 winners, gives a handful of racehorses the prefix ‘Cool’ and three of them could be contenders for selection in The Kosciuszko.

“Coolarest Farm (on the Central Coast) has bred a few horses and bought a few. They would like to add ‘Cool’ to their horses’ names,” Dodson explains.

He names the big, flashy mares Cool Storm, Cool Shalaa and Cool Man as his best candidates for the winners of the ticket, should their ticket be drawn on September 11. Ticket sales close two days earlier.

“I have a good opinion of Cool Storm,” said Dodson. “She only raced over 810m on her debut but ran her rivals into the ground with sustained speed.

“She was then spelled and ran her first run in almost six months when she came third in Newcastle (900m), but she didn’t seem to be up to the track.

“She was wide all the way – she then made up for this by winning the 1006m in Grafton.

“She led and it looked like they were going to pick her up, but she found another gear and pulled away too late.

“The mare is gaining momentum and I am thinking of racing her on a Class 3 speedway in Sydney in a few weeks.

“I am confident she will reach the 1400m and with much improvement I think she can become a worthy Kosciuszko horse.”

Cool Man has only raced three times: “He won on debut at Murwillumbah and then found the finishing line well at Tamworth (finishing fifth) after starting well back in the field,” Dodson said.

“He has raced lightly but he is learning and continuing to improve and probably wants 1400m.”

The horse was unplaced at Grafton on Thursday, but Dodson had preceded the race by saying: “We’ll keep the blinkers on if we need to sharpen him up.”

Others with talent in the Dodson camp include Cool Shalaa, who has won two of her four starts at Coffs Harbour and Tuncurry and is currently playing.

And My Mum’s Toyboy who took a Taree win and finished second at Coffs Harbour and Taree after just four starts.

“He’s a very nice horse too. He should have won at Taree when he was narrowly beaten because the jockey dropped the reins.”

Another of Dodson’s horses, the three-year-old Bretsal, looks set to be out of the race against Kosciuszko after finishing third on debut at Taree and then scoring quickly at Lismore.

“Hong Kong is hot on his heels – they’ve made him a very good offer. He just needs to pass the vet check and then he’s gone!”

The $5 tickets in the Kosciuszko Lottery are available via the TAB app, tab.com.au, local pubs and clubs and at race meetings.

– Racing NSW