Cranbourne Puppy Classic Preview: Bahens Enjoy Classic Cranbourne Ride

Andrea and Cameron Bahen are hoping to celebrate a home-grown feature race success in Friday night’s Group 3 RAM Security Cranbourne Puppy Classic.

The Bahen siblings have Midnight Ride (pictured with Cameron Bahen and MGRA Chairman Eddie Caruana) engaged in the red-hot $25,000 to-the-winner Cranbourne feature, with his opposition including the brilliant Dyna Double One, one of four Team Dailly finalists, and Kelly Bravo’s classy Kayda Shae.

Kayda Shae and Dyna Double One were the standout performers in the Classic heats, clocking 29.78sec and 29.79sec respectively, the only sub-30 qualifying efforts.

But Midnight Ride is forging an excellent resume of his own.

The son of Cosmic Rumble and the Bahens’ brood bitch Midnight Eclipse has won 10 from 20, holds the Bendigo 500m record and ran second in the Group 2 Warrnambool Cup, while he made an impressive Cranbourne debut – sight unseen – when winning his Classic heat in 30.17sec.

“I think Midnight Ride is a good each-way chance but it’s a very hard race. It’s an absolute ripper,” Cameron said.

“Midnight Ride is a good, honest dog and we were really happy with his heat win. It was his first look at the track as well so he might find a bit this week.

“Midnight Ride is a good, honest dog and we were really happy with his heat win. It was his first look at the track as well so he might find a bit this week” – CAMERON BAHEN

“Dyna Double One can do anything on his night and Kayda Shae was very impressive in the heats so we’ve got to get out of the traps and be up there on the first turn. You’re not going to run dogs like those two down.”

While Group 1 glory has thus far proven elusive, Cameron is no stranger to the feature race stage – notably contesting the Australian Cup Final with Finbar McCool in 2011 and winning the Healesville Cup in 2004 with Kid Chill – with Midnight Ride the family’s latest breeding success story.

“We always breed our own but we’re only breeding with the one bitch (Midnight Eclipse) at the moment so we don’t have any pups in the yards at the moment, which is quite unusual,” Cameron explained.

“The Cosmic Rumble litter was Midnight Eclipse’s first and there were five in the litter. Midnight Ride is the best but a dog called Lunar Eclipse can run as well. We’ve just had a few little issues with him.

“We’ve also got the next litter to Midnight Ride, which is by El Grand Senor. There’s six of them and they’re 17 months old. They broke in really well and are just starting to trial now.

“Midnight Eclipse is due to come on season again next month and I’m looking at using Kinloch Brae with her at the moment. We’ve also got Hot Grille at stud. He’s only had a couple of matings but one of his pups is going very nicely and I think you might be hearing a bit more about him in the future!”