Trainer Denis Pagan can’t help but get a bit excited as he talks through his spring aspirations for last year’s Gr.1 VRC Derby (2400m) winner Johnny Get Angry (NZ) (Tavistock).
“Probably the Makybe Diva, maybe the Turnbull Stakes and Caulfield Cup and hopefully he gets a run in the Melbourne Cup,” Pagan said.
The Tavistock gelding took the 73-year-old to racing’s pinnacle last October and the now famous duo will get the chance to do it again this spring.
“Not in my wildest dreams,” Pagan admitted when asked if he’d expected to have horses contesting races such as the Derby and Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
“When I started this off all I really wanted was a runner at Flemington, to think I might have a horse that’s a chance to get a run in the Melbourne Cup is just mind-boggling for me.”spring where he will likely kick-off in the A$750,000 Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) on September 11.
“He looks super at the moment, he’s only been in three or four days and has been on the treadmill for a couple of days and he’ll start cantering from tomorrow,” Pagan said of the rising four-year-old.
“He had six or seven weeks in and I tipped him out for another four weeks, so he’s had three months off this year, so he’s ready to go now and this is the start of his campaign for the spring.”
Johnny Get Angry was sourced as a yearling at Karaka, with Pagan’s good friend Troy Corstens securing the son of Tavistock for $50,000 from the draft of Bradbury Park.
