18 October 2018 | Ken Casellas
Byford schoolgirl Emily Suvaljko celebrated her 18th birthday in style on Tuesday afternoon by giving a perfect exhibition in the sulky to land Bettor Bling a stylish winner over the odds-on favourite and pacemaker Life To The Max in C1-class mobile event.
Suvaljko was driving Bettor Bling for the first time and the six-year-old mare’s win ended a losing sequence of 17.
Bettor Bling, trained at Waroona by Adam Mellsop, enjoyed a perfect passage, one-out and one-back, and she finished with a determined burst to get up in the final couple of strides and win by a neck. This gave Suvaljko her fourth win in the first six weeks of the 2018-19 season.
Suvaljko gave a similar copybook exhibition last Friday night when she gave $77.50 outsider Kasey John every possible chance by positioning the five-year-old in the one-out, one-back position before urging him forward in the closing stages to finish second, just a half-length from the $2.70 fancy Rocknroll Lincoln.
Trainer Michael Brennan has engaged Suvaljko to drive Kasey John in the Direct Trades Supply Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night and the gelding (who will start from barrier two on the back line) should again figure in the finish in a 2130m event in which the Greg and Skye Bond-trained mare Better B Chevron will be at odds-on and should make the most of her favourable draw at No. 2 on the front line.
Better B Chevron had no luck when fifth behind Rocknroll Lincoln last week when she raced three back on the pegs and was badly hampered for room in the final stages.
Better B Chevron should give the Bond stable and reinsman Ryan Warwick the first leg of a double, with Mitch Maguire looking a certainty off the 20m mark in the Yes Loans Handicap over 2503m.
Mitch Maguire maintained his remarkably consistent form when he finished second to the speedy pacemaker Eden Franco in a fast-run 2130m mobile event last Friday night. The five-year-old raced in fifth place, one-out and one-back, before running home determinedly. He was at a disadvantage, with the nearside hopple shortening cord snapping and the pin remaining in place.
Mitch Maguire has a winning record of 63 per cent, with his 30 starts producing 19 wins, four seconds and one third.
Suvaljko, who was successful at her second drive in a race when Undercover Art won at Northam in February this year has three drives on Friday night: Kasey John, Quincey Brogden in race two and The Redeemer in the final event.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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