By Brad Kingsbury
LITTLE River’s greyhound racing fraternity was celebrating popular trainer Paul Bartolo’s domination of last Thursday’s Group 1 Schweppes Melbourne Cup, after litter-sisters Betty’s Angel and Miss Mini Mouse overwhelmed a top-class field to finish one-two.
The home-bred quinella in the $215,000 race was a triumph of the highest order for the dog racing Bartolo family and Paul choked back emotion afterwards.
“I’m ecstatic, I can’t believe it really.
“It’s the Melbourne Cup and that’s the race I’ve always wanted to win.
“I always said that if I won one I could retire but I think I’ll keep going for a while yet,” he laughed.
Betty’s Angel, a $4.40 chance, jumped to the lead and was never headed, winning the $150,000 first prize in a race record time of 29.51 seconds.
Kennel sister Miss Mini Mouse was more than five lengths away in second place and outsider Ryght Way a further two lengths away in third place. Favourite Laurie Banner finished fourth.
“I thought Betty’s Angel would jump better tonight after hitting the lids last week, and if she did she would be too strong for Miss Mini Mouse,” Bartolo said.
“When they jumped I said to (son) Ray ‘I think she’s home’.”
The litter was bred by Dianne Bartolo out of the family’s star brood bitch Leprechaun Yap.
The victory was the second feature win for Betty’s Angel during the Sky Channel Superdogs Series, having earlier taken out the $73,000 Group 1 Sapphire Crown Classic.
Betty’s Angel is two years old and has now raced 16 times for 11 wins and two placings, with the Melbourne Cup first prize of $150,000 taking her stake earnings to $242,850.
Bartolo said that although the litter sisters were young, they were going so well that he had to see if they could take the big step.
He said he only intended to give the bitches 40 starts each before breeding with them and they would not be rushed.
“We’ll give them a couple of weeks off now,” he said. “We’re not chasing the other big races around right now. These dogs have been good to us and they deserve a break.
“There’s a good program coming up at the Meadows in the new year and we’ll probably target that.”
Earlier in the night, Lauren Gorman’s staying star Sargent Major took out the Group 2 Bold Trease Carnival Cup by six lengths from Holly Rock and Luminous Larry in 42.09 seconds.
Sargent Major, the current Sandown Cup holder, will now be aimed at back-to-back wins in the Group 1 feature and Ms Gorman said the dog, owned by prominent greyhound racer Charlie Magrin, was a kennel star.
“I was fairly confident,” she said.
“The dog loves this track and he was back to his peak form. We were hoping that the race panned out the way it did with Mid City Mandy jumping to the lead and our boy getting the sit with his powerful finish.
“He’s a great dog, I’d say he is the best stayer I’ve had.”
The former trainer of Bold Trease, Norm McCulloch, presented the prize to connections and praised the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club for putting the race on in honour of the star chaser.
Officials confirmed that the combined TAB turnover on the night was over $960,000, breaking the modern day wagering record.
