MACKEM BULLET HAS A SHOT IN THE US

SHE is trained by a Newcastle United diehard and originally was owned by a Sunderland supporter and if The Mackem Bullet can win at the Breeders’ Cup meeting on Friday, she will grab more sporting glory for England’s north east than the region’s two football teams have managed recently. A victory for The Mackem Bullet, who was only sixth on her debut in May at Carlisle, would be an odds-defying fairytale. Malton-based trainer Brian Ellison has never had a runner in the US, let alone in this $27.5million meeting regarded as racing’s world championships. Her first owner Brian Robe has already hit the jackpot after selling The Mackem Bullet to Japanese owner Katsumi Yoshida after she finished a nose second to Aidan O’Brien’s Fairyland in the Lowther Stakes at York. ‘She’ll probably be one of the cheapest horses here. We don’t over-train her at home and every race she has got better,’ said Ellison.