By Adam Hamilton.
DUAL Inter Dominion champ Beautide will be back racing in December.
Trainer-driver James Rattray said the mighty stayer had progressed well through a couple of weeks of fast work and would be ready to trial “in early December.”
Sadly, time beat Beautide’s quest to chase an Inter Dominion three-peat in Perth, starting on November 27.
“We reached a stage where we had to decide and the vet wasn’t quite happy enough with his recovering, so we gave him another of couple of weeks off which ruled Perth out,” Rattray said.
“The Miracle Mile now becomes the focus and there’s a chance I might not travel him before it, just take him through the lead-up races here.”
That will be disappointing news for Harness Racing Victoria, who had hoped Beautide would chase the Victoria Cup.
“It’s not out of the question, but the lead-up races are worth good money up here and he doesn’t have to leave home or his favourite track,” Rattray said.
“He seems really well and after a couple of trials, he’ll be ready to race again, so probably just before Christmas.”
The Miracle Mile shapes as something special with Cran Dalgety also making it the main priority for his sidelined superstar Christen Me, who won the Mile last year.
“He’s having another couple of quiet weeks and then we’ll start back with him again,” he said.
“The timing of the Miracle suits us. It’s just a matter of whether we go there through a Victoria Cup or head straight to Sydney for the lead-up races.”
Dalgety said Christen Me would not tackle the Hunter Cup.
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THERE is plenty of X-factor about Kiwi-bred four-year-old Cruz Bromac.
On ability he looks up to a stoush with glamour pair Beaudiene Boaz and Menin Gate in the major four-year-old races during the Perth Inter Dominion series.
Cruz Bromac made it four wins on end when he decimated a moderate field when just second-up from a spell at Melton last Friday night.
The Dean Braun-trained gelding led throughout and cleared out to win by 23.8m in a slick 1min56.8sec mile rate for 2240m.
His part-owners include Harvey Kaplan and Peter O’Shea, who have shared plenty of great times with Bling It On.
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BRENT Lilley and Anthony Butt are about to have a good problem.
The addition of champion trotter Keystone Del to Lilley’s barn has given him an embarrassment of riches in trotting ranks.
And Butt will have to make a big decision on driving.
Although you’d expect him to partner Keystone Del in all the majors, giving up the reins on star mare Maori Time won’t be easy.
Maori Time again showed why she is Australia’s second-best trotter when she scorched over 1720m in a 1min55sec mile rate to win the Group Bill Collins Trotters’ Mile at Melton last Friday night.
Lilley worked wonders to get her back on song after an uncharacteristic flop at her previous run when she galloped.
Last Friday she pounced on the front from gate two and kept carving out quick splits to beat a gallant NSW visitor On Thunder Road by two metres with her stablemate, Kyvalley Blur, making late ground for third.
The emerging Glenferrie Typhoon enjoyed a three-wide trail home, but was just fair in fourth spot at his first dip into the big league.
Keystone Del missed the race because he’s been spelling since connections notified former trainer Nicole Molander he would be moving to Lilley’s stable once the lease expired.
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THE buzz continues to build towards the Perth Inter Dominion Carnival.
Beaudiene Boaz will be one of the star “support acts” when he chases a string of major four-year-old races against the likes of Menin Gate and Cruz Bromac.
The Gary Hall Sr-trained star showed he was primed by beating some Inter Dominion contenders in last Saturday night’s $50,000 Bunbury Cup (2569m).
Beaudiene Boaz made the most of the pole to score by 1.8m over Michael Brennan’s former Kiwi pacer Jason Rulz in a 1min58.1sec mile rate.
It turned into a sprint home with Beaudiene Boaz finishing-off in 55.5 and 27.3sec to win by 1.8m.
Jason Rulz has now looked good in both WA runs and looms as a genuine player in the Inter Dominion.
Brennan’s other major Inter Dominion hopeful, the emerging Billies A Star, was far from disgraced in fifth spot at by far his biggest test.
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IT’S great to see John Justice back with a serious horse.
Hotasel has a way to go to enter the big league, but his improvement since joining Justice’s stable has been fantastic.
The six-year-old son of Elsu brilliantly won the secondary fast-class race at Melton last Friday night in a 1min54.7sec mile rate for 1720m.
The race was supposed to be a winning final warm-up or Ian Gurney’s Inter Dominion hopeful Mach Alert.
But an early speed burn took some juice out of Mach Alert, who eventually found the lead, but wilted late for fourth.
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CLASSY WA mare Leda McNally has emerged as a key contender for the upcoming mares’ features in her home state.
The seven-year-old daughter of Modern Art scored narrowly but impressively in a quality free-for-all at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
Driver Chris Voak took her to the front from gate three and she dug deep to win by a head in a sharp 1min56.2sec mile rate for 2130m.
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AMANDA Turnbull had a successful raid back “home” with a double at Menangle last Saturday night.
Turnbull, now one of the major training forces in Victoria, won the opening race with exciting former Kiwi mare Betabool.
The daughter of Bettors Delight paced a slick 1min55.3sec mile rate for 2300m to make it nine wins from just 13 Australian runs.
Later in the night, another of Tunbull’s mares Vienna Eyre went a 1min54.8sec mile to win the seventh race.
Team McCarthy also had a double on the night with classy former Kiwis Kept Under Wraps in the fifth race and Flying Isa in the trot.
The free-for-all was fought-out by one-time Inter Dominion hopefuls Freyberg, who won by a head over Suave Stuey Lombo in a 1min53.1sec mile.
Freyberg gave trainer Kevin Pizzuto a double on the night after recent stable addition Admiral Joy scorched a 1min51.3sec mile in race two.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
