MONIFIETH PACES 1:50.7 IN MENANGLE VICTORY
Talented seven-year-old former Canterbury pacer Monifieth slipped under the guard of most punters at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Saturday, February 13, 2016.
And the $18 shot slipped under the guard of boom five-year-old Bling It On as well, to snatch a last-stride victory in the $200,000 Cordina Chicken Farms Sprint and secure the second spot, behind Lennytheshark in the SEW Eurodrive Miracle Mile later this month.
Bling It On, who made a mid-race dash and found the front failed by a half head to hold off Monifieth although his second placing also assured him a start in the Miracle Mile.
It was a race that always promised a close finish as Bettor Bet Back fired across from an outside barrier to find the front, despite the efforts of Mach Beauty to hold him out.
Yet Mach beauty’s driver Lauren Panella would have none of that and no sooner had Bettor Bet Black settled in the lead with a 26.4s opening quarter then Panella came around and snatched the lead back from him.
That didn’t last long either as Luke McCarthy (Bling It On) took off from midfield with about 800m to travel and wrested the lead away from Mach Beauty.
All this time former Miracle Mile winning reinsman John McCarthy was smoking his pipe at the tail of the field with Monifieth and turning for home the pair made a long searching run down the middle of the track to grab victory in the final stride.
That final split of 27s gave the winner a mile rate of 1:50.7 which would make Monifieth competitive in most Miracle Miles.
“We’ve travelled with this horse (Monifieth) and to be honest he has gone pretty ordinary a few times on other tracks so his part-owner Kevin Jeavons and I hatched a plan a few weeks ago to stick with Menangle,” said John McCarthy.
“Monifieth can bump his knee a little bit, but he loves this long straight and always races well here at Menangle.
“So this is where he’ll be racing for the rest of his career. To jag a win like this makes it all worthwhile.”
Courtesy of Mandy Zammit,
Catering & Administration Co-ordinator,
NSWHRC.