Stormageddon being set for Narrogin after Esperance Cup triumph

Trainer Michael Grantham will turn his attention to the Narrogin Cup on March 15 with Stormageddon following the gelding’s brilliant win in Sunday’s $100,000 Freight Lines Group Esperance Cup (2010m).

The four-year-old, who went out a $1.50 favourite and was superbly ridden by Clint Johnston-Porter, scored easily from stablemate Citino ($13).

A cup quinella capped off a perfect scenario for Grantham, who was on his first venture to the south coast.

“I like to support the surrounding country tracks the best I can, and to take the two horses there and quinella it was a dream come true, to be honest,” Grantham said.

“It was my first trip to Esperance — I’d never had a reason to go there (previously), mainly because of the distance.

“But I’ll try and make it a regular trip from now on.”

Sunday’s cup triumph completed back-to-back wins for Stormageddon with Johnston-Porter aboard.

“You don’t really give instructions to people who are great at their trade,” Grantham said of Johnston-Porter’s perfect ride.

“He does his homework just as much as I do mine, and I don’t tell him how to do his job.

“We click well and obviously he knew what he was doing.

“We had a little pre-race plan to ride him the way he did, and the horse obviously did the rest and got the money.

“He’ll head to the Narrogin Cup and from there, we might see how he’s still going in the campaign and perhaps then look at the Geraldton Cup (on March 6) or the Albany Cup (on April 20).

“He could have one more run, or potentially two or three more runs.

“We’ll see how he tracks along at home and what sort of disciplines he gets, if he wins another one.”