Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
In the age of high-priced pacers dominating racing there are still a few horses proving to be bargain purchases, with the latest example being eight-year-old Under The Alta, who is racing with youthful enthusiasm for veteran trainer Bill Whyte.
Whyte snapped up Under The Alta for a mere $2000 just over three months ago, and the 72-year-old trainer races the old gelding in partnership with his sons George and Anthony and his brother Malcolm.
“We got him from Rob Flannery pretty cheap,” said Whyte. “He was advertised in February for four grand, and we were able to buy him for $2000.”
This has proved to be an excellent purchase, with Under The Alta having 13 starts for his new owners for three wins, four placings and stakes of $29,728.
Under The Alta’s latest victory was in the 2130m Trotsynd, Join The Fun Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he was a $3.90 chance who began smartly from the outside of the back line for reinsman Kyle Symington and sustained a strong burst to take the lead with 900m to travel before winning by two lengths from $6 chance Take a Hike, who finished strongly from eighth at the bell.
Under The Alta is a massive gelding by former star pacer Alta Christiano and is out of New Zealand-bred mare Jade Bromac, who raced 75 times for seven wins, 12 placings and $53,662. Under The Alta, who has been prepared by seven different trainers, has earned $151,627 from 16 wins and 36 placings from 144 starts.
In recent years Whyte has part-owned and trained Jamie Kim, giving the gelding 98 starts for seven wins, 18 placings and stakes of $69,482. He gave the seven-year-old to Kristian Hawkins to train in January, and the gelding was successful at Kellerberrin last month.
Under The Alta is a bit of a sook, who enjoys sharing a paddock with Tiffany Robyne, a younger half-sister to Jamie Kim who was retired as a racehorse in 2023 after racing four times for a best effort of a third placing at Narrogin.
“They are great mates and the mare travels to the race meetings as a companion and has a stall next to Under The Alta,” said Whyte, who confines the preparation of the gelding to jog work at Byford.
Whyte has held a licence to train pacers for about 40 years, and he has fond memories of winning with Willie Be at Bunbury and Cunderdin in 1991. Friday night’s win gave Whyte his first metro-class success.
He is a retired signwriter who is now involved in a family painting business. “I was a bit lonely earlier this year without a horse to train, so that’s why I bought Under The Alta,” he explained.
Symington completed a double when he drove The Final Offer ($5.50) to an easy win over his stablemate and $1.50 favourite Chugach, who set the pace in the 1730m Bridge Bar Pace.
The Final Offer enjoyed a perfect sit behind Chugach before bursting to the front 110m from the post and winning by a length and a half, rating 1.55.3 after final quarters of 28.3sec. and 27.9sec.
The Final Offer is trained by Greg and Skye Bond, who were successful earlier in the night when Deni Roberts drove the highly promising four-year-old Our Crunch Time to an impressive all-the-way first-up victory over Last Hard Copy in the 2130m Beau Rivage Pace.