Courtesy The West Australian website:

FROM crowning triumph to tragedy, trainer Fred Castledine knows the full gamut of emotion in his quest for another Perth Cup.

Castledine celebrated when Meliador won the 1979 race ahead of the previous year's Melbourne Cup winner, Arwon, and Caulfield Cup champ Taksan. It was regarded as the best cup field ever.

But there was tragedy just weeks before the 1999 cup when Castledine's big race hope, Brave Buck, and jockey Damion Beckett were killed by a freak lightning strike during a trackwork gallop.

Jason Oliver, who was to ride Brave Buck in the cup, was supposed to have been aboard the horse that morning but was late and was replaced by Beckett.

Castledine, 65, takes the good with the bad and now he is back with a new Perth Cup chapter in the making. Dananmatt is his 11-start five-year-old gelding named after the rodeo riding 18-year-old Pascoe twins, Dan and Matt Pascoe, of Gingin.

Castledine believes the horse will need luck to pull off an unlikely dream, but his lead-up races - including a powerful finish in last Saturday week's Cox Stakes - appear to have him primed for the gruelling 3200m test.

The addition of a travelling partner, his two-year-old filly Smart Dollars, has also added a calmness to the horse.

"He's quite promising - he lacks a bit of racing know-how, but it's all a learning process and he's got a bit of raw ability," Castledine said.

"He's still a babe in arms in terms of his racing career. He's no Meliador, but he's a trier who just keeps coming and if he runs in the money he'll have done a mighty job."

Dananmatt will have his last hard work-out before the cup at Ascot today.

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Ta me go maith