Ken Casellas | Photo: Gloucester Park Harness Racing
Unconditional is bred in the purple and has untapped potential, but the four-year-old mare is far from star reinsman Ryan Warwick’s favourite pacer.
“She is the hardest horse I have ever driven,” said Warwick after guiding her to a splendid all-the-way victory in the 2130m Barbagallo Luxury Cars Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“Once the mobile takes off, she seems to be good. But it is just getting her on to the track and doing the preliminary that’s the problem. I’ll be going at three-quarter pace, and she will try to run off the track and out the gate. As a two-year-old she ran through the fence at Gloucester Park. She gives you anxiety.
“I need to chase a horse to follow, and you have got to have a shepherd because otherwise she will veer out. Once you’ve got a shepherd, she’s okay. She has plenty of gate speed. She takes 30 to 40 metres to muster, but once she musters, she is probably too quick. She is also strong, and if a horse tries to hold her out, she can do a bit extra.
“Unconditional and Dodolicious are the hardest horses I’ve had to drive. Dodolicious was just hard work (but she earned $501,041 from 18 wins and 18 placings from 54 starts which included wins in the two and three-year-old Westbred Classics and the WA Oaks and Daintys Daughter Classic in 2016).
“Unconditional is good; she won a heat of the Oaks last year. She goes good but is not yet at the top of her game. She could definitely run in the big races for mares this year. She probably needs to find a length from what she’s doing at the moment. She is a lot better than what she is showing at the moment.”
Unconditional, prepared by leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond, has raced 27 times for nine wins, eight placings and $64,260. She is by champion sire Bettors Delight and is the eleventh foal out of Dream Offer and is a full-sister to Cant Refuse (113 starts for 16 wins, 34 placings and $301,661), Delightful Offer (99 starts for 27 wins, 28 placings and $336,928), Bettor Offer (50 starts for 15 wins, 14 placings and $207,614) and Bettor Dream (68 starts for 13 wins, 24 placings and $224,334).
Unconditional, the $1.30 favourite, was untroubled to set the pace and beat the strong-finishing $18 chance Ideal Whitby by just over a length, rating 1.58.6, with final 800m of 57sec.