Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Bettorstartdreaming caused a minor upset when he revealed sparkling gate speed to set the pace and score an effortless victory over the $1.30 favourite Fanci A Dance in the 2130m Fly Like An Eagle Standing At Allwood Stud Pace At Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Bettorstartdreaming, a $10.70 chance, started from the No. 4 barrier before bursting past the polemarker Fanci A Dance to take up the running after 80m. Chris Voak then immediately moved Fanci A Dance off the inside to race in the breeze. But the stout-hearted eight-year-old failed to trouble then pacemaker who was not extended in sprinting over the final quarters in 28.5sec. and 27.8sec.
“On paper, it didn’t look like that we could find the front,” said reinsman Kyle Harper. “He didn’t lead then previous week when they ran a phenomenal lead time (34.4sec.). He popped out into the breeze and ran third. It was a mighty effort.
“Once Bettorstartdreaming crossed Fanci A Dance tonight it was game, set and match. He is certainly in the best form since he arrived in WA. The old man (trainer Lindsay Harper) has done a super job with him, turning his form around. He is showing signs of being a seriously nice horse.
“I didn’t intend going to the front. But ten metres after the start he was just effortless, so I gave him a flick and across he went. He got a nice cheap half early and he just jogged in. He felt like he could have gone another lap. He was impressive and he feels like he is getting better all the time.”
Lindsay Harper agreed with his son’s sentiments, saying: “Once he led and got those easy sectionals (31.7sec. and 31.2sec. for the first two quarters of the final mile) after a smart lead time of 36.2sec. they weren’t going to catch him.”
Bettorstartdreaming, a winner at five of his 18 starts in New Zealand, was purchased early last year for $100,000 by Lindsay Harper, his sister Christine Nash, Louisa Appleton and her daughter Sarah Appleton and Clint Harding.
“He showed good ability in New Zealand when he competed in group 1 events,” said Lindsay Harper. “I gave him one start here (when seventh at Pinjarra in February last year) but he got really sick, and I put him out.
“When I brought him back, he still wasn’t well. He won first-up (at Gloucester Park in August 2020) and I gave him six to eight runs when he wasn’t a real horse. So, we transferred him to Ross Olivieri for a while to get another opinion.
“He had five runs for Ross and ran a couple of good races (two seconds and a fourth). Ross was of the opinion that if we pushed him on, we would wreck him, and he suggested that we give a spell and give him more time to recover fully from whatever illness he had.
“So, we gave him about four months in the paddock before bringing him back, and now he seems a more genuine horse. Hopefully, he gets back to what he was in New Zealand. When we bought him I thought he would make the field of twelve for the WA Pacing Cup.”
Bettorstartdreaming has had only 40 starts and he certainly has excellent potential and has the ability to develop into a Cups horse in the summer. He is the first foal out of Yankee Dream, who earned $277,214 from 15 wins and 18 placings from 56 starts.
Yankee Dream, who won a group 1 event for two-year-old fillies at Alexandra Park in May 2009 and was placed in group 1 events as a three and four-year-old, is a half-sister to Detroit Lily, who finished second to Our major Mama in the WA Oaks at Gloucester Park in May 2018.