Racing: Bettor Buy It all set for rerun

Des Baynes
Des Baynes
Winton trainer Des Baynes is simply grateful he has a horse to compete in the re-running of the Southern Supremacy Stakes at Gore tomorrow, after narrowly avoiding disaster in the first attempt last month.

Bettor Buy It was at the back of the field at Ascot Park on March 29 when Meticulous fell with 1800m to go, causing carnage in the second half of the field.

Bettor Buy It's driver, Tim William, managed to pull the gelding to the outside of the track before they reached the pile of horses, drivers and sulkies.

''We were just happy to get out of it with a horse and a driver and our cart intact,'' Baynes said.

''It was the best thing that could have happened with rerunning it and now everyone's got another chance.''

Between the aborted race at Ascot Park and tomorrow's assignment, the son of Bettor's Delight has been pretty busy.

He smashed a c1 field at Winton on April 6 by almost six lengths, before trekking north to Christchurch to take his place in the group 1 New Zealand Derby on April 11.

Bettor Buy It performed admirably after drawing wide, finishing seventh behind Locharburn in the classic.

''He went a good race from where he was in the running and draw and everything - he was terrific.''

Bettor Buy It will need to luck on his side in the group 2 2700m feature tomorrow, having drawn barrier 10.

''There's probably half a dozen other places [in the field] we'd rather be.

''But to be honest, we're in the field and it's not a really bad draw. It's just whatever happens off the front row dictates where we end up. We'll get a shot at it.''

The Dunns - father Robert and son John - have front-line draws with their pair Return To Sender (driven by Dexter) and No Doctor Needed (driven by John). The latter finished behind Bettor Buy It in the Derby, but looked comfortable in Southland last month.

Messini was in the lead when the first running of the Supremacy was called off but his preference for being on the speed has been slightly blunted by his draw of 12 on the second line.

While Set Me Ablaze (race 3) is backing up after an adequate third in weaker company on Tuesday, Baynes is scratching his head as to who he may have offended in recent weeks when it comes to the barrier draws for No More Questions (race 4) and Granite (race 12).

''I've got two horrible draws with my two other horses - I must have fallen out of favour, or something,'' he said.

No More Questions starts from gate 12 after impressing with two fourths in his career so far.

''He's just coming back from a wee bit of a break. It's going to be jolly hard from back there unless he can get in the three-wide line and get dragged into it.

''It's probably the same with Granite. He's quite a nice wee horse. He's improved but it isn't a very good draw.''

Baynes fancied Granite, a product of Falcon Seelster, before a virus in his stables earlier in the season hit Granite harder than most.

''My team had a bit of a bug earlier on and he had a bit of a throat infection and now that we've cleaned it up he seems to be a lot happier.

''He wasn't finishing his races off - he was just dying over the last 150 to 200m and apparently that's how they go [when infected]. When we scoped him, we found a really bad situation.''

 

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