12 October 2017 | Ken Casellas
Byford trainer-reinsman Callan Suvaljko is hoping for just a little bit of luck when he drives Bettor Bling in the $18,000 Retravision Pace for mares over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The five-year-old certainly deserves a bit of good fortune after she was a certainty beaten when fifth behind Bethany Aitch over 2130m last Friday night. She started from the inside of the back line and met with severe interference when Its My Lucknow galloped badly at the start. She was seventh on the pegs at the bell and was badly blocked for a clear passage until the very late stages when she flashed home out wide.
The previous Tuesday Bettor Bling charged home, out wide, from ninth at the 300m to finish a close third to Bad Round and a week earlier she was a fast-finishing second to Chiaroscuro.
“Her run last Friday night, when she got cleaned up at the start, was very good,” Suvaljko said. “And then, if she had got out at the 400m she would’ve been very hard to beat. She’s racing well and with a touch of luck she will be right there this week.
“A 1700m journey is her pet distance. In races over 2100m you have to save her up for one kick. So, on Friday night I intend to come out from barrier three. If we can’t cross She Could Be Good (barrier one) I hope that the speed will be on and that we get the one-out, one-back trail and the last shot at the leaders.”
Bettor Bling, bought for $18,000 as a yearling in 2014 by Sue and Graham Worrall, won the Group 1 WA Sales Classic for two-year-old fillies in April 2015 and she now has earned $112,836 from eight wins and 12 placings from 55 starts.
By Bettors Delight, she is the last of Whitby Solitaire’s ten foals and is a full sister to the ninth foal Delightful Jade, who has raced 65 times for 22 wins, 13 placings and stakes of $223,577.
Suvaljko is also delighted at the form of Skippy Rascal, who will start from the No. 5 barrier on the front line in the $20,000 Electrolux Pace over 2130m.
“He went to the line bolting and with nowhere to go last Friday night,” he said. “I kept kicking up between horses, but there wasn’t a run there. The opposition is tougher this week, so we’ll be virtually driving for luck.”
Skippy Rascal will need all the breaks to defeat the polemarker Fifth Edition, who looks set to lead for Ryan Warwick and take a power of catching. Fifth Edition was unlucky last Friday night when he enjoyed the one-out, one-back trail but was hopelessly blocked for a clear passage until 130m from the line, when he surged home powerfully to finish second to Smoldering Ashes. He was terrorized in front when second to Jaxon Fella the previous week.
Suvaljko also gives another of his runners, Sightseeing Anvil, a good chance in the $20,000 Westinghouse Pace over 2130m in which the nine-year-old will start from the inside of the back line.
“He’s a lot better horse in front, but this is a weaker field than the opposition he met when sixth behind Jaxon Fella last week,” he said. “It’s not over-strong and he has some chance.”
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