A winning percentage of 41, vastly superior to that of any of his 11 harness racing rivals, points to Bettor Offer as the horse to beat in the Gannon’s Rugs And Sashes Handicap, a 2503m stand at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Bettor Offer, to be driven by Ryan Warwick for trainers Greg and Skye Bond, will start from the No. 1 barrier on the front line and punters will be watching anxiously when the tapes are released. The Bettor's Delight gelding has been tardy at the start at his two most recent outings, both in 2503m stands.
Two starts ago, at Gloucester Park on February 26, Bettor Offer began slowly from the No. 1 barrier and raced without cover before getting to the front after 450m and going on to win by two lengths from Sonic Classic after dashing over the final 400m in 27.7sec.
Then two weeks later Bettor Offer galloped out from the 10m mark and then raced three wide early before working hard in the breeze outside the pacemaker Tank You Kindly. He worked his way to the front 550m from home, but was overhauled in the final stages and finished a half-length second to the fast-finishing Eminence Grise, who had enjoyed a perfect trail behind the leader.
Bettor Party is the least experienced runner in the field, with only 29 starts for 12 wins and ten placings, and he certainly has the potential to improve sharply on his M1 classification.
The youngest runner in the race is four-year-old stablemate Assassinator, who will start off 10m and will be driven by Nathan Turvey. Assassinator is in fine form, finishing strongly from fifth on the pegs at the bell to win by two and a half lengths from Waltzing With Cullen two starts ago before starting from 10m and running home stoutly from seventh in the middle stages to be third to Our Ideal Act and Glenlochar last Friday night.
The Eric Chabros-trained Bettor Party is favourably handicapped off the 20m mark and should fight out the finish. He started off 50m and finished strongly with a three-wide burst from tenth at the 900m to hit the front 150m from home and win from Sir Escapealot in moderate company over 2636m at Narrogin last Saturday night.
Ken Casellas