Pipped rivals at the post

By Tim O’Connor (HRV)

Bettor Isolate’s devastating turn of foot has been the topic of conversation for much of his career and Mattie Craven’s emerging star needed every bit of it to escape from jail and win last Saturday night’s Popular Alm Sprint at Kilmore.

The lightly-raced five-year-old was badly held up rounding the home turn, but found a way clear in the straight and charged late to grab front-runner Tango Tara in the shadows of the post.

It was a somewhat overdue victory for the son of Bettors Delight, who had been running good races without prevailing since taking out a heat of the Riverina Championships in March.

Craven handed driving duties to brother Glen on Saturday night and he might have been cursing his name when things became messy for the favourite.

Glen charged off the arm from gate four and found the front over Hi Manameisjeff, but was quickly placed back behind that runner when Nathan Jack popped off the pegs and completed the re-take. That spelt trouble for Bettor Isolate, who was strung up in traffic when the leader began to tire and looked to have run out of time to reel in Andy Gath’s New Zealand export. But he eventually escaped and charged in the final few strides to secure the 10th victory of his 20-start career.

“(Trainer) Mattie (Craven) didn’t want me to be burning into the first corner, and I sort of got stuck outside Yambukian and it was going to be a long way back,” Glen said.

“So, I pressed the button to get to the front and was just probably doing a little bit more than I would have liked. I was just trying to get a breather, Nathan hooked out straight off my back and I just didn’t want to get into a war.

“He is better off with a sit so it wasn’t the worst thing to be sitting behind the leader, but around the home corner I was having a bit of a heart attack.”

Bettor Isolate turned heads with a slashing run behind Hurricane Harley in early June when he clocked a final 400m split of 25.38 at Melton.

Glen said there were no imminent major targets for the horse, who will not be heading to Queensland for the back end of that state’s winter carnival.

“I think he’ll just keep going around, just keep getting better and hopefully get a bit stronger. And if he can get stronger, he’ll take the next step,” the reinsman said.