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| Staff Writer |
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Next month, the connections and slot holders of Far Too Easy will be seeking divine assistance in The Kosciuszko. They have a remarkable connection to the late Chris Caserta.
Far Too Easy was ridden by Caserta in his initial three races and was a frequent member of trainer David McColm's Murwillumbah stable. There is a noteworthy connection to the well-known jockey in the A$2m race, as the syndicate that secured Far Too Easy's position in The Kosciuszko is managed by Anthony Taylor, Caserta's former manager.
McColm confirms that they will be competing in honor of Caserta, who passed away tragically during a late-night swim in November 2021.
"We had two phone calls, the first one said they'd have a meeting and get back to us, as soon as I hung up, another one called and they said they'd do whatever we like, they really wanted him," McColm said.
"One of the guys in the syndicate was Chris Caserta's manager, I said ‘get out of here, what are the odds?'
"He is one of the ticket holders, there is 15 of them, so it is really nice we have the Chris Caserta flavour to it all.
"It has turned out to be a nice story, we want to do it for Chris now."
In his first three career starts, Chris Caserta rode Far Too Easy. Despite facing challenges from wide barriers, Far Too Easy will be making his debut in The Kosciuszko after an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Gr.1 Stradbroke Handicap earlier this year.
Last week, he won an impressive 900m trial at Beaudesert, and he will have one more race before the grand final on October 14. Although Champion Brisbane jockey Jimmy Orman was expected to ride Far Too Easy, he will be racing in the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap in Melbourne, where Antino is currently a US$4.50 second favorite.
"There's nothing confirmed in that sense, Jimmy is probably going to be in Melbourne I would think, so we haven't done anything about that yet," McColm said.
"He will have another trial before going into the big race, he is really dynamic first up.
"He is going to have to be at his best because it is a really good field, but he's going better than what he was last year, so he won't be far away."