Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Five-year-old Betterzippit, a modestly-bred pacer and a moderate performer in New Zealand with five wins and earnings of $52,350 from 28 starts, continued his remarkable rise to fame with a dazzling victory in the $1 million TABtouch Nullarbor Slot race at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
His thrilling victory by a head over another New Zealand-bred Sydney pacer Spirit Of St Louis has thrust him into serious contention for the accolade of Australia’s best pacing horse.
Betterzippit went into Friday night’s richest harness event in Western Australia as the lowest earner of the ten starters, with prizemoney of $128,851. The other nine runners had amassed a total of $4,505,553 in stakes — an average of $500,617. Betterzippit also was the least experienced runner in the race, with only 34 starts.
But Betterzippit, who arrived in Australia just 13 weeks ago with little fanfare, defied the odds, proved the master of his rivals and gave further proof that his 29-year-old Menangle trainer Jason Grimson is not only a wonderful preparer of pacers but is also an outstanding judge of horseflesh.
Grimson, who took up training seven years ago after working as a concreter for several years, picked out Betterzippit after watching replays of his races in New Zealand.
“I saw a few of his replays and liked him,” said Grimson. “I had to keep raising the price before I was able to buy him for Mick Boots. He was in the medium price range, and I liked him because I considered he was just going through the motions.”
Betterzippit was purchased for about $70,000, and he has already proved to be an excellent bargain. He is by the fine American stallion Betterthancheddar and is the fifth and final foal out of unraced and undistinguished Mach Three mare Nile Star, whose only other foal to race was Targaryen, who earned $15,605 from two wins and two placings from 23 starts.
Not only was Betterzippit’s victory as the $4 second favourite on Friday night a triumph for Grimson, but it also revealed the undoubted skill of 24-year-old reinsman Cam Hart, the leading driver in New South Wales for the past two years and the leader in this year’s premiership table.
“I was confident coming over here that we had the horse to get the job done,” said Hart. “I saw that there was a bit of speed off the front, so from barrier four I was happy to stay out of the early burn before making a mid-race move to put us into the race.
“Betterzippit has got heaps of speed and is so versatile. And we saw how tough he is when challenged in the home straight by Spirit Of St Louis. He really dug deep in the last 50 metres.”
The race got away to a spectacular start when star 21-year-old Sydney reinsman Jack Callaghan revved up $18 chance Spirit Of St Louis from out wide at barrier No. 8 to burst straight to the front, leaving the three inside runners Typhoon Banner ($71), Magnificent Storm ($1.80 favourite) and Lavra Joe ($8.50) in his wake.
Betterzippit settled down in seventh position in the one-wide line before Hart urged the gelding forward in a lightning move to take the lead 900m after the start.
Callaghan eased Spirit Of St Louis off the pegs 250m from home and he finished powerfully to lose by a head, with the final three 400m sections of the 2536m event being covered in 29.9sec., 27.9sec. and 28.2sec. and the winner rating 1.56.8 on a rain-affected track.
Jumpingjackmac ($9) was eighth at the bell before following Lavra Joe’s three-wide run in the final circuit and running home strongly to be third, with Steel The Show ($19) improving from seventh, four back on the pegs, to be a creditable fourth. Lavra Joe wilted to ninth, and Magnificent Storm finished seventh after enjoying the one-out, one-back trail in the middle stages and then being badly blocked for a clear run in the last lap.
Betterzippit has improved in leaps and bounds and his seven Australian starts have produced six wins and a ninth placing behind Spirit Of St Louis in the Group 2 Schweppes Sprint at Menangle in February when he was badly hampered for room.
“We haven’t yet found the bottom of him,” said Grimson. “We have no immediate plans for him. All we have to do now is to make sure he gets back to Sydney fit and healthy.
“My father was into harness racing, and when I was 14, I used to ride gallopers in trackwork before going to school to earn a bit of money. I didn’t mind concreting, but I always enjoyed horses, and I was happy to end my days at that job and have a go at training pacers.”
Hart has enjoyed a splendid association with Grimson over the past couple of years, with their biggest success before Friday night being with the $16 chance I Cast No Shadow in the Interdominion Championship at Melton last December.
Hart, who hails from Junee in the New South Wales Riverina district, began his driving career as a teenager with his uncle Trevor White — and he now has driven 843 winners. It will be a far cry from winning a $1 million race on Friday night to driving at a meeting in Newcastle on Monday when two of his five drives in 1609m $6936 events will be former West Australian pacers, the 11-year-old Highview Sadler (a winner at 15 of his 264 starts) and ten-year-old Twentynine Twelve (a winner at 14 of his 204 starts).