21 December 2017 | Ken Casellas
Outstanding pacer Bettors Fire will reappear after a nine-month absence when he contests the WA Pacing Cup Fireworks Night January 19 Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night and trainer-reinsman Kyle Harper reports that the nine-year-old is fit and firmly on track for a tilt at the Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup next month.
“I’m really pleased with him and he should go pretty close, first-up,” Harper said.
Bettors Fire, a winner of 32 races and $636,622 in prizemoney, is favourably drawn at barrier three on Friday night and he should be capable of surging to an early lead and setting the pace in the 2130m event.
“Unfortunately, Bettors Fire had a setback a couple of months ago, so I decided, as hard as it was, to bypass the Inter Dominion and set him for the two big Cups,” Harper said.
“With his excellent gate speed, he should find the front this week and take catching.”
Bettors Fire has looked a picture in trials at Byford on the past two Sunday mornings when he was untroubled and not extended in winning against moderate opposition and without setting fast times. In both trials Bettors Fire began from the outside barrier and was restrained at the start before finishing full of running.
In the first of the 2150m trials Bettors Fire rated 1:58.6 after quarters of 30.1sec., 28.9sec., 29.3sec. and 30.2sec. A week later, the early speed was extremely slow and after sections of 32.8sec. and 30.5sec., Harper sent the gelding forward with a sharp burst to take up the running at the bell before coasting over the final quarters in 28.9sec. and 28.6sec. Betters Fire won very easily from Erskine Range, rating a modest 2:00.7.
“I was happy to follow them around and just let him find his fitness in the trials,” Harper said. “The first trial was good, but in the next trial they wanted to run trackwork times, so I was forced to take off a bit earlier than I would have liked.
“I was happy with both trials. The first trial was the first time for about eight months that he had hopples on. I just gallop him and he’s got plenty of miles in his legs. He has been working really well at home and I can’t fault him. Whether he comes back as a racehorse now that he’s getting older is the only query. That will be the key factor. Whatever he does on Friday night, he’ll improve on.
“Motu Premier is racing very well and looks the main danger. He has an advantage in race fitness. But we should be in front, and leading at Gloucester Park is a big advantage.”
The Ross Olivieri-trained Motu Premier (Chris Lewis) will start from the No. 6 barrier and will have many admirers, particularly after his splendid performance last Friday night when he was eighth and last at the bell before finishing powerfully to be a head second to Vultan Tin at a 1:56.1 rate over 2536m.
Adding further interest to the race will be the return of dual WA Pacing Cup winner My Hard Copy, who will be fancied from the coveted No. barrier. My Hard Copy, to be handled by Gary Hall Jnr, will be having his first start since his fading eighth behind Chicago Bull in the 1730m Mount Eden Sprint nine weeks ago. Victory would boost My Hard Copy’s earnings past the $1 million mark.
Champion trainer Gary Hall Snr will also be represented by Norvic Nightowl, who will be driven by Stuart McDonald from barrier No. 5. The eight-year-old last appeared when he covered a lot of extra ground and finished powerfully from ninth at the bell to be a desperately close third in a three-way photo behind Simply Susational and Tricky Styx in the Media Guild Cup on September 29.
Olivieri holds a strong hand in Friday night’s race with Motu Premier, Costa Del Magnifico (Chris Voak) and Im Full of Excuses (Shannon Suvaljko) and Aiden de Campo has been engaged to drive star New Zealand mare A Piccadilly Princess, who will start from the outside in a field of eight.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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