Menangle trainer Darren McCall will look to send seven year old pacer Bettor Bet Black to the spelling paddock with two successive victories after his impressive 1:51.6 win at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Saturday night. McCall is eyeing off the Vic Frost Cup on Saturday August 29 as the gelding’s final run this preparation which will be his 34th start this season.
McCall is hoping for one last crack at the Miracle Mile in February next year after he was an emergency for Australia’s greatest harness sprint in 2014.
“That’s the plan going forward after his win on Saturday night, I want to give him one more run in the Vic Frost Cup, he can then have a well earned break and I’ll bring him back for a tilt at the Miracle Mile,” McCall said.
“His 1:51.6 effort on Saturday was a career best, when you draw barrier nine and go 25.7 for the first quarter it is pretty much game over but to his credit he fought really hard in the straight.”
Bettor Bet Black is a favourite in McCall’s boutique stable and he credits a lot of the gelding’s success to his wife Karina.
“He came to us with a bad record, he was RODM and barred and wasn’t a nice horse to handle but my wife takes really good care of him.
“He’s a real baby that likes to be spoilt and he wouldn’t do well with a guy handling him, she does everything, I rarely touch him except on Wednesday and Saturday when I jumped behind him, I don’t even harness or unharness him.”
With plenty of experience in North America, McCall is sure Bettor Bet Black would have been a great prospect in the USA.
“He would be a killer in the States and what people don’t understand is that he’s a better follower which is a bit hard to understand after Saturday.
“I have no doubt he could go 1:48 at the Meadowlands, I’ve trained a couple of world champions that went 48 and he’s as good as any of them.”
McCall was happy to hold out For A Reason in the middle stages on Saturday night after he made a lightning move around the field when the pace backed off after the early burn.
“I thought to hold the lead was my only chance to win, I thought I could run second and let him go but having in mind For A Reason was first up from a spell I was happy to retain the lead.
“We raced For A Reason when he first came back from stud duties a couple of years ago, he had the same trip outside me and he gassed us up the stretch and got about a length and half in front but we almost wore him down at the end so I had that in the back of my mind when he ran past us this time around.”
With Saturday night’s victory Bettor Bet Black took his career earnings past $300,000.
Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) is the controlling body for harness racing in New South Wales with responsibility for commercial and regulatory management of the industry including 31 racing clubs across the State. HRNSW is headed by an industry-appointed Board of Directors and is independent of Government.
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