Bettor Than Ready jumps to the line in the 2026 2YO Colts and Geldings Sweepstakes Final. Photo by Chelsea Matthews
Bettor Than Ready gave connections one final fright just before claiming the Fehlbergs Produce Two Year Old Colts and Geldings Final at Hobart’s Ladbrokes Park Elwick on Sunday afternoon.
The gelded son of Bettors Wish jumped the shadow of a fixed light tower near the finish, before safely completing the course to win the $30,000 feature.
Driven by Tarn Ford, the $1.35 favourite settled behind the leader in the 1609m event before working one-off the pegs turning for home. He held Lotseven at bay in the run to the line, with 1.3m separating the pair in a training quinella for Tammy Langley.
The mile was covered in 1:56.4s.
“I think he’s probably one of the best, if not the best, horses I’ve driven,” said Tarn post-race.
Stable spokesperson Phillip Ford was delighted with the result.
“He’s always had the ability, but he struck a bit of a problem there early on, and once we fixed that, he’s come good.
Ford said Bettor Than Ready would now have a break before being aimed at the Dandy Patch.
“He’s a very nice horse. He’s out in the paddock now on a bit of a break, and we’ll aim him towards those feature races later in the season,” he said.
Jordan Chibnall landed her biggest win as a trainer when she drove Stolen One ($2.60) to victory in the Fehlbergs Produce Two Year Old Fillies Sweepstakes Final.
The daughter of Lather Up led throughout to win in 1:56.5s, equalling the two-year-old fillies record set by Ravishing Ruby last year.
“I thought she’d be hard to beat, but I never wanted to be too confident. It became a bit of a staying test, and she was too good,” said Chibnall.
The filly is raced by Victorian Mitch Frost, who trained Chibnall’s first driving winner exactly six years earlier.
“Frosty trained my first winner, and I’ve driven lots of winners for him during my career.
“It was really awesome. He trusted me with her. He could have sent her anywhere, and he chose to trust me and send her to me. We had a plan, and it paid off,” said the trainer-driver.
“She’s going to stay for the rest of her two-year-old season. Well, until she’s had enough anyway,” she added.
The open-class race of the day, the TTC Metropolitan Cup (2579m), was won by the Heath Woods-trained and driven Custom Harley ($26).
After leading early, he was shuffled back to be three-back on the pylons, before working into clear racing room near the 500m.
He scored by 3.1m over Go The Red ($8.00) in a mile rate of 1:58.6s.
