Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Smart pacer Belly Up is an exciting sit-sprinter who will be aimed for the rich feature events for four-year-olds later in the year.
Prepared by champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, Belly Up was most impressive when he thundered home from tenth at the bell to snatch a thrilling final-stride victory in the 2130m Retravision, Lowest Price Guarantee Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Driven patiently by Deni Roberts after starting out wide at barrier eight, Belly Up, the $2.40 favourite, sprouted wings to beat $13 chance Bettor Arcade by a nose, rating 1.55.8 after final quarters (off the front) of 28.2sec. and 28.6sec.
This ended a losing sequence of eleven, which included six placings, and took his earnings to $241,792 from seven wins and 12 placings from 28 starts.
“We are eyeing off the Golden Nugget and the Four-Year-Old Classic,” said Greg Bond. “Sit-sprinting is his racing pattern, but I gave Deni the option tonight to go forward if she wanted to. But she made the right call because there was a fair bit of speed on early (with a lead time of 35.8sec.).
“If Belly Up had gone forward, it probably would have been his undoing. So, Deni got things dead right again. He has won a lot of races coming from the back of the pack. Obviously, there will come a time when we will use him off the arm when he draws good, and we will see how he handles that.
“He won a Westbred Classic as a two-year-old and has come a long way since then and is doing a great job. Skye picked him out as a yearling when he caught her eye. And we got him for a reasonably fair price ($40,000 at the 2023 Perth APG yearling sale).”
Belly Up is by New Zealand sire Foreclosure and is the eleventh foal out of New Zealand mare Thats The Spirit, whose sixth foal Patrickthepiranha earned $719,676 from 42 wins and 52 placings from 179 starts.
The Bonds and Roberts completed a double later in the program when Aaediebytheseaside ($3.30) settled in sixth position before starting a three-wide move with 1100m to travel to race in the breeze in the final lap and taking the lead 220m from home and holding on to win by a half-head from the $1.90 favourite Copy Cat Queen, who ran home fast when the final 400m was covered in 27.3sec.
Aardiebytheseaside will be one of the fancies for the $50,000 WASBA Breeders Stakes on May 8. She won this event in 2024 when she easily defeated Acharne Girl, an then she finished fourth behind Penny Black in last year’s WASBA Breeders Stakes.
Wake Up Geoff gave a sample of his versatility when he was a $11.50 chance ($20 on the fixed market) and did all the bullocking work in the breeze before getting to the front 250m from home and holding on to beat the fast-finishing Amalfi Knight ($4.80) and the pacemaker and $1.70 favourite In Rare Air in the $50,000 Caduceus Club Classic over 2130m.
A week earlier he had set the pace when he won a 2130m event from Ideal Beach and Amalfi Knight. The Fly Like An Eagle three-year-old is trained by Kim Prentice and was driven with great confidence by Mitch Miller.
“Wake Up Geoff was a $10,000 yearling and including bonuses and stakemoney he has earned $150,000,” said Prentice.
Prentice and Miller continued in fine form when they combined to win with $2.10 chance Firth Of Clyde at Bunbury on Saturday night.
On Friday night Miller completed a double when he drove $21.20 chance Rellim to an impressive victory in the 2130m Retravision Online Pace, with the seven-year-old surging home from tenth at the bell to get to the front on the home turn and win by just under two lengths from $9.50 chance Sun Publisher.
Rellim, purchased for $12,000 at the 2020 Perth APG yearling sale, is owned by Darryl Miller and his son Dean, who trains the Follow The Stars gelding at Coolup. The Millers found an easy way to name Rellim by naming the pacer by spelling the family name backwards. Rellim has earned $116,359 from eleven wins and 31 placings from 87 starts.
Ten minutes before Rellim won the final event at Gloucester Park Dean Miller set the pace and won the final event at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park with five-year-old mare Staranna.