Racing: New Zealand superstar Catalyst without trainer as Clayton Chipperfield quits for personal reasons

Catalyst burst onto the scene last season in remarkable fashion but will now be affected by Clayton Chipperfield's shock decision to step away from training. Photo / Trish Dunell

Exceptional galloper Catalyst looks likely to stay in New Zealand even after trainer Clayton Chipperfield's shock decision to step away from training.

Chipperfield has decided to cease training from tomorrow for personal reasons, leaving the almost forgotten superstar of New Zealand racing without a trainer.

Catalyst burst onto the scene last season in remarkable fashion, going from being all but unknown to winner of the 2000 Guineas, capturing the Hawke's Bay Guineas along the way.

He returned in the summer of 2020 and was freakish on Karaka Million night before heading to Australia for a two-race campaign highlighted by an epic Flemington battle in which he was nosed out by Alligator Blood in the CS Hayes Stakes.

Catalyst couldn't reproduce that form two weeks later in the Australian Guineas and was found to be sore.

The son of Darci Brahma was then brought up for a Sydney campaign last September and started well backed against star sprinters Classique Legend and Eduardo in A$500,0000 The Shorts but dropped out to finish last and returned home.

Now a 4-year-old Catalyst has been given a long spell, is spending time on the water walker and will then have another month off and more time on the water walker, the latter great for building muscle and fitness without stressing horses' joints.

When he does come back into work, he will need a new trainer, and Rick Williams, who manages Catalyst and the other horses owned by Queensland-based Dick Karreman, says no decision has been made.

"We have only found out this week that Clayton is stepping away from training and we support his decision," says Williams.

"We have other horses with Clayton, who also breaks many of our horses in, and we will try and find the right trainers for each horse.

"Obviously there are plenty of people who would love to train a horse as good as Catalyst, but at this stage, I think he will end up in Cambridge, because with the bone bruising issues he's had, the synthetic track will really help him.

"So when he does come back into full training, I'd say that is where he will be, but with which trainer, I can't confirm yet."

Williams says all going well, he and Karreman would love Catalyst to resume racing in August or September, when races like the Foxbridge Plate or the Group 1 1400m weight-for-age at Hastings (Tarzino Trophy) would suit.

"There are aims like that which make sense, and if he comes up as well as we would hope, then he could potentially head to Australia.

"But he will be trained here to start with and maybe right the way through."

Although Karreman has horses with several trainers based at Cambridge, if there was a betting market open on who will train Catalyst next, Tony Pike would be the warm favourite.

Meanwhile, champion Sydney jockey Hugh Bowman will partner the two Baker/Forsman big names in Sydney on Saturday.

Bowman will ride The Chosen One when he clashes with Melody Belle in the A$1.5 million Tancred Stakes at Rosehill, while he will also be on Frontman when the Derby placegetter contests the Tulloch Stakes.

Frontman is using the Tulloch as his lead-up to next week's A$2m ATC Derby, a path the Baker/Forsman stable have used successfully with Jon Snow and Quick Thinker to win both races in recent years, with the last four ATC Derby winners having won the Tulloch the week before.