The star pacer gave trainer Andy Gath his first Group 1 win in Western Australia all in the memory of late owner Richard Matthews.

by Adam Hamilton

It was a win “written in the stars” as the man who made it possible watched from the intensive care unit in the hospital after open-heart surgery.

That’s just part of the emotion and theater behind Victorian raider Catch A Wave’s win in Australia’s second-richest race, the $1.25 million Group 1 Nullarbor at Perth’s Gloucester Park.

Last Friday night’s (April 19) race had it all, also giving superstar driver Kate Gath the most satisfying win of her stellar career and filling one of few voids in trainer Andy Gath’s CV, by providing his first Group 1 win in Western Australia, the only of Australia’s six racing states where he was yet to win at the highest level.

All of this against the backdrop of Catch A Watch’s late owner, Richard Matthews, who passed away in September, 2022, while the best pacer he’d ever had was just starting his pathway to super stardom and now more than $2 million in career earnings.

As Matthews’ wife, Pauline, read the local paper on the morning of the race, she looked to the horoscopes for inspiration.

“Mine didn’t say much, but I couldn’t believe it when I read Richard’s,” Pauline said. “He’s a Taurus and it said: ‘One never quite knows when life is going to open the throttle and get us moving. Your will is on tap. Ride the wave.’ I had to cut it out and bring it to the track with me.”

Pauline, who rarely goes to the races, even at home in Victoria, since Richard’s passing, made the three-hour drive and four-hour plane flight from her property near Port Fairy in Victoria across to Perth.

“Richard loved this horse,” she said. “[She] was the one. He’d been waiting for her. The day before he passed [away], he rang Andy [Gath] and said, ‘Don’t let anyone sell this horse, keep him racing.’ He must have thought I’d let the horse go because he always loved the pacers and I loved the trotters.

“It’s been a hard slog without Richard, we all miss him every day. And none of us realized how much time and work he put into the horses. It’s been a hard slog without him because he did all that stuff. I didn’t know one end of a horse from the other when we started out breeding and racing them, but being a nurse, I wanted to work with the mums [mares] and babies [foals], so I did a course and really loved it.

“He got to see the horse win some big races, but you certainly have mixed emotions seeing him go on to win races like this and the Miracle Mile after we lost Richard. Then again, he’s a living legacy to Richard and the whole family comes together around him every time he races.”

The Nullarbor was never on Catch A Wave’s radar until less than a month before it was run.

The Gaths were focused solely on a defense of the $1mil Miracle Mile title “Tex” — Catch A Wave’s stable name — won in March, last year.

But an untimely injury scare changed everything.

Just after Catch A Wave passed the finish line when second in the Geelong Rocket on Feb. 23, Kate feared he had broken down badly.

“And it kept getting worse after the race,” Kate said. “He couldn’t put one foot on the ground. We were sure he’d broken something.”

Remarkably, scans and x-rays the following day revealed a corn and abscess was the problem,

“They removed the corn and drained the abscess he recovered within days,” Andy said. “But it ended our Miracle Mile hopes and [we] didn’t know what to do with him. There were the two slot races coming up, and at first, I wanted him to go to New Zealand [for the Race By Grins], but all the slots were taken.”

Enter passionate harness owner and supporter Rob Tomlinson, who had a slot with friends and business colleagues under the Regency Foods Australia banner, in the Nullarbor.

Still with his slot open, Tomlinson heard murmurs Catch A Wave could be “gettable” and rang Andy.

Within days the deal was done.

“We couldn’t have for a better [slot] partner,” Andy said, “Rob and the team have been wonderful to deal with and promoted the horse and race amazingly well in the build-up. They’ve added to the whole thrill of the win.”

But Tomlinson himself wasn’t trackside. Just three days earlier he’d had open heart surgery, for the third time in the past two years. That’s on top of the three sessions of dialysis he has each week for his kidney issues.

“Rob was having surgery when they drew the barriers [last Tuesday],” Tomlinson’s wife Michelle said. “He’s come through it remarkably well and watched the race in ICU at the
hospital.

“We are just so thrilled to be part of a win like this with some beautiful people… Kate, Andy, Pauline and all her family. This is everything good about slot racing when you can bring people together like this.”

Just 12 months earlier, in the inaugural Nullarbor, the Tomlinson’s were major shareholders in hot favorite Magnificent Storm in what turned out to be a horror story. Driver Aldo Cortopassi was widely condemned for his drive as Magnificent Storm finished a luckless and heartbreaking seventh.

The gelding won eight of 10 WA starts, and finished second in the other two, after that Nullarbor and was the favorite to atone this year before a nasty knee infection threatened his life and ended dreams of redemption.

“This race has certainly been an emotional roller-coaster to us and it’s only two years old,” Michelle said.

Kate, who boasts over 2100 career wins and 56 at Group level, said the win was the most satisfying of her career.

“I felt it was my biggest challenge as a driver,” Kate said. “The racing is just so different over here, they drive so aggressively, not like anything I’d seen or been part of before. I knew it, so I looked back at a lot of races and I’m so glad we came over the week before so I could have some drives here. It was also great to give Tex that race here the week before, too. We both benefited a lot from it.

“When you add that to sharing it with Pauline and the family, and what such great partners Rob and all his crew were, it’s one of the really special nights.”

The race itself delivered every inch of the drama forecast by some of the key combatants through the media in the lead-up.

Young gun Jack Callaghan vowed to hold the lead on Spirit Of St Louis, who meekly handed-up the front a year earlier when second in the Nullarbor, and he did, leaving easing race favorite Hot And Treacherous to sit parked outside as they blasted through a record lead time in the 2536-meter race.

Local star Minstrel made a midrace move to sit parked and maintain the hot tempo.

“I couldn’t have scripted it better,” Kate said. “That’s how we’ve always wanted to drive him, do nothing early, let him settle and come with one [move], but you need the pace on to win that way and it certainly was.”

Champion local driver Gary Hall, Jr., driving exciting young pacer Never Ending, added more spice when he shoved Hot And Treacherous three-wide with a lap to go around the half-mile circuit.

“That was even better for me, because I then got a trail into it on the back of Hot And Treacherous, who thankfully kept going long enough to take me right into the action,” Kate said. “I knew I had to be mindful of [Hall, Jr.] trying to do the same thing to me, so when I got up alongside him, I really urged Tex along to make sure there were no gaps, no chance for him to hoist me wide.”

It was the winning move for Kate and one which Hall, Jr. insists cost him the race. Never Ending hit a wheel, broke stride briefly and lost all chance.

The stewards adjourned an inquiry into the jostling between Kate and Hall, Jr. on the final bend until next Friday night.

Catch A Wave’s win was his 21st from just 37 starts and took his career earnings to $1,799,588.

The 5-year-old will stay in Perth for Friday (April 26) night’s $300,000 Group 1 Fremantle Cup and then return home for a spell.