Can Grimson produce another big-race work of Art?

Dual Inter Dominion-winning trainer Jason Grimson will be looking to be victorious in his first Ballarat Cup campaign with Cya Art on Saturday night.

The six-year-old gelding has drawn barrier eight, following out the current second favourite Beyond Delight ($5), and will be driven by Greg Sugars.

“I’m pretty happy with the draw,” Grimson said. “Being on the fence in these big races can help a lot.

“Hopefully the one (Beyond Delight) can be somewhere near the front and we are on his back.”

The Decoglaze Ballarat Pacing Cup features a quality field including last year’s Miracle Mile and Chariots of Fire winner, Catch A Wave.

Grimson is confident in Cya Art’s ability to be competitive in the strong field, but will be relying on race circumstances to play in his favour.

“If he gets any luck in the run, he should go close to winning,” he said.

The gelding out of Art Major was purchased from New Zealand and joined the Grimson team in November 2023. The Menangle Park trainer noticed the horse during his recent New Zealand campaign with star stablemate, Swayzee.

“I liked his runs against some of the nicer horses over there (New Zealand). He was running nice fourths and fifths too then. He had been with the trainer for a while and was probably needing a change," he said.

The bay gelding had one start in New Zealand for Grimson in a Group 3 on New Zealand Trotting Cup day where he finished second. Cya Art has since had four runs in Australia, which included a win in the Group 2 Shirley Turnbull Memorial. There, he defeated Petes Said So and Kanena Provlima who he goes up against again on Saturday night.

The Ballarat Pacing Cup has an incredible history with previous winners including Popular Alm, Gammalite, Shakamaker, Safari, Lochinvar Art and Copy That.