Luvbite, a seven-year-old pacer with a losing sequence of 31, made a splendid West Australian debut at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he ended an 11-month drought by scoring a spirited victory in the $21,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Bendigo Pace over 2130m.
Following a smart win in a Byford trial the previous Saturday, Luvbite was a $2 favourite from the awkward barrier No. 6 in what was anticipated as a two-horse match race against promising five-year-old A Little Silence, who was not extended in winning at his first two Australian appearances as an odds-on favourite in the final two weeks of March.
Luvbite, trained by Micheal Young and driven by Emily Suvaljko, was untroubled to work in the breeze outside $13 chance True Grit, while A Little Silence ($2.20) was restrained from out wide at barrier seven to race in last place in the field of eight.
A fast lead time was followed by an easy opening quarter of 31.4sec. before the tempo increased, with the final three 400m sections being run in 29.7sec., 27.8sec. and 28.7sec.
Luvbite got to a narrow lead 430m from home before he surged well clear of the opposition and crossed the line 2m ahead of A Little Silence, who flashed home out wide. Luvbite rated 1.56.3.
It was exactly five years ago, on April 3, 2021, that Luvbite made his race debut, finishing second to Solesseo Matuca over 1720m at Melton before winning at Horsham and Ballarat and then moving to Queensland where he won ten times at Albion Park for a syndicate of three, headed by Victorian professional punter Matt Leppard.
According to Young, a couple of co-owners recently wanted to sell their shares in Luvbite, with Leppard buying them out.
“Matt then sent the horse over to me, with the Leppard family retaining 60 per cent of the horse,” said Young. “I then advertised the other 40 per cent on Facebook, and the shares were snapped up by several stable clients.
“The purchase price before Leppard owned Luvbite outright was $10,000, and the owners have already got their money back after sharing tonight’s first prize of $12,058.
“Luvbite’s rating points have dropped down a long way from where he was at his peak, and he should win a couple more races.”
Luvbite, a gelding by American sire Betting Line, is the fifth foal out of Mach And Me, who raced nine rimes for two wins, four placings and $159,885 in prizemoney. The highlight of her short career was her victory in the group 1 APG final for two-year-old fillies at Moonee Valley in May 2009.
Luvbite now has raced 148 times for 14 wins, 57 placings and $213,934.
“In his trial Luvbite was quite lazy but tonight he was really switched on and came out of the gate a lot better than I expected,” said Suvaljko. “He charged around to the breeze, on the bit, and the 27.8sec. down the back was just him; not me at all.”
