This Fella’s more than a sneaky chance of second win

TRACEY Bartley says “only bad luck can beat” his rising star Sneaky Fella, who resumes at Newcastle today almost 12 months to the day after his stunning debut win at Kembla.

Sneaky Fella has racing royalty running through his veins being a direct descendant of the epic broodmare Dark Jewel.

He only won by a neck but did more than enough to attract the attention of some cashedup spectators.

“We knocked a lot of money back for him after his first start,” Bartley said. “I left it up to the owners as to whether or not they could afford to own him and luckily for me they could.”

Unfortunately Sneaky Fella wasn’t able to progress after his debut win due to a minor leg injury that Bartley wasn’t going to risk making any worse.

“He sprained his suspensory a little bit so we didn’t push on. We just rested him straight away and it looks like he has made a full recovery,” the trainer said. “His trial was good and so was his work here on Friday morning.”

Sneaky Fella was ridden to victory on debut at Kembla by Grant Buckley, who was also aboard the gelding in his latest slick trial win at Beaumont on August 20.

Buckley’s vast experience will no doubt come in handy to offset Sneaky Fella’s wide gate in today’s final event.

“He has drawn a little bit wide but he is a big horse so you wouldn’t want him cluttered up anyway. We’ll probably sit third or fourth something like that,” Bartley said.

“I think only bad luck in the run will beat him. He is a very good horse. I really want to head to Melbourne with him.”