Busselton tree lopping contractor Barry Howlett’s dream run of successes looks set to continue when he starts Bettor Be Supreme in the $25,000 final of the Coulson Pace for mares at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The big, powerful lightly-raced five-year-old has drawn ideally at the No. 2 barrier on the front line in the 2130m event and Chris Lewis will be aiming for an all-the-way victory.
Howlett trains Bettor Be Supreme and races her in partnership with his wife Lyn and their son Jim.
He is riding high and has a remarkable strike rate this season, with his first 64 starters producing 25 wins, ten seconds and three thirds to have him in fourth place in the Statewide trainers’ premiership table, behind Greg and Skye Bond (93 winners from 308 starters), Gary Hall sen. (42 winners from 196 starters) and Courtney Burch (26 wins from 166 starters).
Howlett purchased Bettor Be Supreme in New Zealand as a yearling and the filly won at her debut when Tony Herlihy drove the Brent Mangos-trained pacer to victory at 7/1 at a 2.0.2 rate over 1700m at Alexandra Park on March 21, 2014. She raced behind the pacemaker before finishing strongly along the sprint lane to win by a half neck after sprinting the final 400m in 27.9sec.
She finished third behind Joanne’s Delight in the group 1 Sires Stakes Championship at Alexandra Park and was 3rd behind Katy Perry in another classic event for two-year-old fillies. Her six New Zealand starts produced one win, three placings and $45,499 and she travelled to Western Australia in November 2014.
Howlett gave the filly plenty of time to mature and she raced only twice as a three-year-old — for wins at Pinjarra and Bunbury in August 2015. Seven wins from nine WA starts have boosted her career figures to $85,929 from just 15 starts.
Bettor Be Supreme warmed up for this week’s assignment with a smart all-the-way victory over the fast-finishing Jungle Jewel, rating 1.58.4 over the 2185m journey at Pinjarra last Monday week when she dashed over the final 400m in 27.2sec.
Howlett will also be represented in this week’s event by Fay Darling, another New Zealand-bred five-year-old who has had 20 starts for five wins and seven placings. However, Fay Darling, a last-start third behind Giuliana Rancic at Pinjarra, will be at liberal odds after drawing out wide at barrier eight on the front line.
Bettor Be Supreme is a versatile pacer, who has won races by leading and has also impressed with some powerful finishing bursts.
Eastwood Crystal (barrier one) and My Samantha Jane (three) also possess excellent gate speed and excel as pacemakers. Therefore, there should be a keen tussle for the early lead.
The Justin Prentice-trained Quite A Delight, to be handled by Tom Buchanan, has a losing sequence of ten and is awkwardly drawn at barrier five. However, she is a talented mare who has won at nine of her 25 starts and is capable of causing an upset. Blacknsweet Adda and Forever Remembered are racing with commendable verve and also cannot be discounted.
Bettors Gem, trained and driven by Shane Young, has had no luck in recent starts and should be prominent from the inside of the back line.
Howlett also has sound prospects with Major Stare in the $14,999 TABtouch New Year’s Eve Cup over 2100m at Bunbury on Saturday night. Major Stare, who has had seven starts in WA for five wins and two seconds, will clash with Master Jaxon (a winner at each of his past four starts), the Gary Elson-trained pair of Sprinter and Scoobys Delight and last-start Gloucester Park winner Mister Daytona.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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