Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Talented five-year-old Bettor Get It On showed that she should be a leading candidate for next Friday night’s $50,000 Christmas Belles when she overcame difficulties to score an emphatic victory in the $26,000 Members Save 5% Every Day at Retravision Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Bettor Get It On, the $3.70 second favourite, began speedily from barrier six and led by a length in the early stages but was unable to cross to the front. Just For Love ($26) got the better of Libba Racy ($101) to take the lead after 500m.
However, Emily Suvaljko continued to press forward after a fast lead time of 36.1sec. and Bettor Get It On hit the front 600m after the start before she relaxed and covered the opening quarters in 31.5sec. and 29.8sec. She then sprinted strongly over the final 400m sections in 28.1sec. and 28.5sec. and won by 7m from her stablemate and $3.80 third favourite Platinum Sparkle, who fought on grandly after racing in the breeze for most of the race.
Trainer Justin Prentice admitted that he was worried about Bettor Get It On’s chances after working so hard in the early stages. “I was a bit concerned when they ran such a quick lead time,” said Prentice. “But she is a tough mare and is a hard horse to get over.
“I thought that she might have won one of the big races for mares (the Norms Daughter and the Mares Classic).”
Bettor Get It On had no luck with wide draws and began from barrier eight when seventh in the Norms Daughter Classic, and from barrier six when ninth in the Mares Classic.
Her victory on Friday night followed her narrow victory over Eighteen Carat a fortnight earlier. Eighteen Carat was the $2.20 favourite for Friday night’s race in which she started out wide at barrier No. 8.
She raced four wide early before being restrained to the rear. She then dashed forward, out wide, to be second at the bell and battled on, out wide, to finish seventh.