Big Plans For Luvbite
Expectations were not particularly high when ace trainer Michael Young outlaid $10,000 just over four months ago to purchase veteran pacer Luvbite on behalf of nine stable clients.
The Victorian-bred seven-year-old had a losing sequence of 31 as a handy campaigner of 147 starts in Victorian and Queensland.
Now, under Young’s care and the great skill in the sulky from 22-year-old Kylah Madden, Luvbite is emerging as a realistic candidate for the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup on December 11.
He has earned $79,557 from six wins and a third placing from 13 WA starts, and after he had overcome the significant disadvantage of starting from the 40-metre back mark and scoring a brilliant victory in the $35,000 Nutrimate BOTRA Cup over 2503m at Gloucester Park on Friday night an enthusiastic Young declared he would be setting the gelding for the prestigious Group 1 feature event.
“I might as well give him a chance of running in the Cup,” said Young. “Luvbite is going as good as any horse I’ve had racing for the last however long. It was hard to do what he did tonight, and his run a week earlier was awesome (when he began from the outside barrier on the front line, was ninth at the bell and was hampered for room when fifth behind Bettors Pride).”
Luvbite, the solitary backmarker in Friday night’s race, was a $9.30 chance, with his stablemates Blaze Away ($4.80 favourite) and Stormy Vista ($7) more popular with punters.
Frontmarker Blaze Away reared at the start, galloped and lost considerable ground, while Stormy Vista (off 10m) enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before being shuffled back in the final circuit and then charging home, out five wide, to finish fifth.
Luvbite raced at the rear while Dawson ($5.50) was setting a solid pace with Medieval Man ($19) in the breeze, and the gelding was tenth at the bell before Madden followed the three-wide run of $9 chance Alta Tribute and was forced wider in the back straight.
Luvbite sustained his powerful effort and burst to the front about 90m from the post and won by a half-length from Alta Tribute, with Dawson a nose farther back in third place.
The final three 400m sections were run in 29.1sec., 28.1sec.and 29.3sec. with Luvbite rating 1.58.3.
Madden, who has driven Luvbite seven times for four wins, was thrilled with the gelding’s performance, saying: “He’s a little legend, and I was happy to see Medieval Man in the breeze because he is a bit of a roller, and the quick quarters suited Luvbite.
“I was a bit worried down the back (straight) when I got pushed four and five deep, but in the home straight he found another gear.”
Luvbite is by American sire Betting Line and is the fifth foal out of the New South Wales-bred mare Mach And Me, who was retired after having nine starts for two wins, four placings and $159,885 in 2009 and 2010, with the highlight of her career being her victory as a $31.20 outsider in the Group 1 APG Classic for two-year-old fillies at Moonee Valley in May 2010.
Thirty minutes after Luvbite’s victory Madden completed a double when she brought $12.50 chance Hotly Pursued home with a spirited burst to score an easy victory inn the BOTRA Life Member Colin Smith Pace over 2130m.
Hotly Pursued, trained by Murray Lindau, began from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line and raced in sixth position, one-out and two-back, before sprinting fast to burst to the front with 220m to travel and win by 8m from last-start winner and $61 outsider Machnificent, who thundered home from tenth at the bell.
Duggan Aims To Extend His Horizons
Septuagenarian Phil Duggan is an old-school horseman who is renowned for his skill, perseverance and resilience. His love of his pacing horses knows no bounds, and he was rewarded for his patience and his faith when nine-year-old gelding Hotfoot It broke a losing sequence of 20, scoring a smart all-the-way victory in the 2130m ULE Hoof Oil Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Duggan’s right arm was in a sling, following a highly unusual accident three nights earlier when a bone in his collarbone was fractured, and he delighted in revealing that he paid $8000 for Hotfoot It in January 2023, with the New Zealand-bred pacer having thrived on a diet of almost non-stop action since then.
This was Hotfoot It’s 158th start for Duggan, for nine wins, 22 placings and $111,192 in prizemoney.
Slightly built and wiry, the 73-year-old Duggan also is a hard worker with an unbending belief in his team of veteran pacers, with whom he is planning to extend his horizons with a summer campaign in faraway Queensland.
“I have a nine-horse truck, and I’ll take nine horses across to Queensland before Christmas,” he explained.
The reason for this exploration is that one of Duggan’s pacers is 13-year-old Gearsinawhirl, who won two races in 2019 before he took him over to train later that year, and since then the gelding has had 95 starts for 19 placings but not a single victory.
“Gearsinawhirl has been placed at his two most recent runs at Gloucester Park, but under WA regulations he cannot race as a 14-year-old next year, and Queensland is the only place in Australia and New Zealand where you can race a 14-year-old,” said Duggan.
“So, I will take him by truck to Brisbane later this year along with several of his stablemates.”
And Duggan has plenty of faith in his team of oldtimers which includes eight-year-old Beat The Bank, 11-year-old Jingling Jewels, nine-year-old Gov Starzzz, seven-year-old Midwife Calling and six-year-old Shes A Dactyl.
“Hotfoot It is doing a good job but not as good as Beat The Bank, who cost me nothing and has earned a lot more,” said Duggan. Beat The Bank was suffering from a bow tendon when Duggan received the pacer as a gift as a three-year-old in June 2021.
Beat The Bank has raced 152 times for Duggan, earning $167,943 from 14 wins and 31 placings; Jingling Jewels has had 94 starts for Duggan for ten wins, 17 placings and $93,870. Among the stablemates, Gov Starzzz has a record of 158 starts for eight wins, 30 placings and $93,282, and Shes A Dactyl has managed two wins and 14 placings for stakes of $42,986 from106 outings.
This all reveals that Duggan’s horses are very experienced, and the trainer, a former highly successful apprentice jockey, experienced a high in harness racing with an old pacer when he produced veteran gelding Nat Nifty in grand shape for the 2004 Interdominion Championship series at Gloucester Park.
Nats Nifty finished second to Mister D G in a 1740m qualifying heat and was third behind Te Kanarama and Sokyola in a 2140m heat before finishing seventh behind Jofess in the final.
The planned trip to Queensland will be the second for Duggan, who took Im Batman there early in 2020.
“I was lucky to get into Queensland six hours before the border was closed due to COVID restrictions,” said Duggan, who drove Im Batman in a race in Mount Gambier after the trip across the Nullarbor.
Im Batman was the $1.40 favourite who caused a false start after breaking in the mobile score-up before he began slowly in the re-start and finished third.
Seven-year-old Im Batman then went on have six runs in Queensland where he was driven by Adam Richardson for three wins as an odds-on favourite at three appearances at Redcliffe before Isobel Ross drove the gelding at two unplaced runs at Albion Park.
Hotfoot It was a $7 chance in Friday night’s race when Toby Lynn got the gelding away smartly from the No. 1 barrier and relaxed in front before dashing over the final quarters in 28.4sec. and 29.2sec. and winning by a length from $6.50 chance Travelban, who fought on gamely after racing without cover.
“Hotfoot It gets an easy life at home,” said Duggan. “He has a quarter of an hour on the walking machine every day. He has no hoppled work; no nothing. I used to give him a lot longer on the walker, and since I have cut it back, he has been racing a lot better.”
Hofoot It is by American Ideal and is the first foal out of Hothooves, whose second and third foals Hot And Treacherous and Major Hot have been stars on the track with Hot And Treacherous earning $531,500 from 20 wins and 26 placings from 104 starts, and Major Hot having had 67 starts for ten wins, 26 placings and $353,069.
Duggan was injured in usual circumstances last Tuesday night. “After coming home from the meeting at Gloucester Park I was leading two horses in a paddock out in the dark, and they decided to go in opposite directions and pulled me apart,” he said.
“I fractured a bone in the right collarbone. It wasn’t a bad break, but I was in agony until they strapped it and pulled it back into place as well as giving me pain killers. I can’t lift my arm much but there is no pain now.”
This was the second nasty experience for Duggan at his stables. He was in hospital for six months in 2021 recovering from injuries he received when run over by one of his pacers.
After working a two-year-old Duggan was returning to the stables when the horse leapt in the air and dislodged him from the sulky before dashing away and then turning and retracing his steps. He ran over Duggan, causing spinal damage and bleeding on the brain. He was placed in an induced coma and was in a brace for six months.
Champagne At Midnight
It was a joyful case of sipping champagne at midnight on the shores of the Mediterranean for managing owner Liam O’Connor after Gary Hall jnr had driven star two-year-old Hez The Boss to win the 2130m BOTRA Thanks Milne Feeds Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Hez The Boss, reappearing after a spell for trainer Colin Brown, was the $1.40 favourite from barrier six, and he was not bustled early while Ideal Whisper ($7) was challenging Jetpack ($7.50) for the lead.
Jetpack resisted the challenge and Ideal Whisper was switched to the inside to follow that gelding, leaving Hez The Boss to race without cover.
However, Ideal Whisper moved to the breeze 1400m from home, giving Hez The Boss a more comfortable passage in the one-out, one-position. Hall was then happy to remain in this spot until approaching the home turn where the gelding took the lead on the corner and went on to win by a length and a half from Ideal Whisper, rating 1.56.1 after final quarters of 28.4sec. and 28.7sec.
Hez The Boss, a gelding by Poster Boy, now has earned $96,694 from four wins and a second placing from five starts. Neither of his owners, O’Connor and Trevor Lindsay, was on course, with Brown saying that they were enjoying mid-year holidays.
“Liam is away on a six-week holiday, and he telephoned me from somewhere in the Mediterranean before and after tonight’s race,” said Brown. “He told me that he was about to celebrate with a drop of champagne.”
Hall was impressed with Hez The Boss, saying: “He was hard to fault, considering his limited experience. He went on and off (the bit) at various stages, but he knows when the chips are down and he puts his best foot forward. He has always had that push button speed, and that’s a sign of a good horse.”
Brown said that Hez The Boss was on target to contest the $250,000 Pearl Classic on August 7 after running in a qualifying heat of the Group 2 event on Monday of next week.
“He has a bit of improvement in him,” he said. “He is a lovely animal with a motor, and he has a brain and a heart.”
Hall completed a double when he trained and drove Eastbro Chrissy for a stylish win in the 2130m BOTRA Lovrick Pace for mares.
Five-year-old Eastbro Chrissy was a $3.20 chance from the No. 7 barrier, and she settled down at the rear before moving forward to race in fifth place in the one-out, two-back position while the $2.50 favourite Up And Alive was setting the pace, with Captainshavtime in the breeze.
After a very slow lead time of 39.3sec. and modest opening quarters of 31sec. and 29.9sec. the winning prospects of the runners back in the field appeared remote. However, this was not to be, with Eastbro Chrissy, sixth with 300m to travel, unwinding a powerful sprint out wide to get up and win by a half-neck from Up And Alive after final 400m sections of 28.3sec. and 28.6sec.
“The leaders had it all their own way, so Eastbro Chrissy had no right to get up,” said Hall. “I thought it was a forlorn task, but she did a really good job to win. Her previous wins for me have been when she has led, and tonight was a learning curve for her, to see how she could go coming from behind. She has done a terrific job, and versatility is a good asset to have.”
