Dalgety chasing crowning glory with lucky buys
CRAN DALGETY has two terrific chances of landing major Breeders’ Crown booty at Melton this afternoon with horses he freely admits he probably should never have bought.
Bit Of A Legend, who will be out to make history by becoming the only horse to win Breeders’ Crown finals at two, three and four, was so small at the yearling sales he was shunned by almost everyone except Dalgety’s young son Carter who talked Dad into buying him for $50,000.
‘‘While he was a half brother to London Legend who won us 25 races and $450,000, I did buy him with my heart and not my head. He gets laughed at even now because of his size, so you can imagine how small he was as a yearling.’’
And Katy Perry, who is most favoured of the five Kiwi two-yearolds in the $329,000 fillies’ final, was from such a poorly producing mare Dalgety thought his $17,500 bid at Karaka last year might be money down the drain.
‘‘When I bought her she had had five foals for five nothings,’’ Dalgety said. ‘‘But she looked like a colt and was by Bettor’s Delight out of an In The Pocket mare, which is a cross I’ve always persevered with.
‘‘She showed no talent at the start, which wasn’t great for two of my rugby mates from yesteryear who were first time owners.
‘‘We didn’t hold her in very high regard at all until after her first couple of trials, but the Bettor’s Delights can fool you like that.’’
When Katy Perry won the $146,250 Sales Series Final at Auckland at her fifth start, the lads were ready to forgive Dalgety.
But the wheel turned again just a week later when Katy Perry had barely completed half a lap of her preliminary before the Harness Jewels at Cambridge when she jumped a shadow, fell and gouged her knee, having to be late scratched.
Katy Perry might have missed a shot at that $80,000 payday but this afternoon she will be shooting for an amazing first prize of $199,280 and from four at the gate, Dalgety reckons she is in with a real shot.
‘‘That certainly gives us a leg up on the others [main rival Linda Lovegrace is stranded on the inside of the second row] and I think we’ll be adopting catch-me-if-you-can tactics – she’s won her last three races here from the front.’’
Dalgety said while Katy Perry had been good in her win two starts back at Geelong, Dalgety said he told driver Dexter Dunn she’d have to go up a notch to beat the others.
‘‘To our surprise she has and her last start win [ at Ballarat] was super, the best she’s been.’’
Dalgety is similarly fizzing over the condition of Bit Of A Legend, who destroyed his rivals at Melton last week in his first race for eight months.
‘‘ He’s in a great zone at the moment, and since that race he’s really gone forward in leaps and bounds.
‘‘ I’m really excited about his chances and, while he’ll have to circle the whole field from his draw, I really feel confident he can. He’s done it once before over here.’’
Dalgety said there was always a risk that Bit Of A Legend might be knocked by his first-up run but Dunn had been able to give him a perfect lead-up.
‘‘Even though he was left parked out he was able to control the tempo from there, instead of being eye-balled himself in the lead.
‘‘And though they came a slick last 800 [55.7], the overall time was slow so it was a good first-up run after such a long period.’’
Bit Of A Legend had not raced
Cran Dalgety has Bit Of A Legend and Katy Perry primed. since last December when he failed in three feature races in Perth where he failed to acclimatise in the trying conditions for caretaker trainer Brent Mangos.
‘‘ The heat and sand knocked him around a bit, and when he came back his little elf feet were very hard and brittle.’’
Dalgety aborted a rushed prep- aration aimed at qualifying for the Jewels and instead turned him out again with a cup week preparation in mind.
But when all the leading fouryear-olds starting dropping out of the Breeders’ Crown – Guaranteed, Lenny The Shark, Border Control and Ginger Bliss all pulled out – Dalgety took him to the Motuka- rara workouts to test his fitness.
‘‘I drove him myself because it was a $20,000 decision on whether we’d go or not, and after he went great we put him on a transporter to Auckland the next day.’’
Bit Of A Legend flew to Melbourne the following Wednesday and raced four days later – ‘‘but he’s travelled more than me and never missed a beat.’’
‘‘I told the owners this is probably the last time we’ll get a crack at a big stake without having to race Rolls Royce company like Christen Me, Terror To Love and Adore Me.
‘‘I think he can win. He’s got a bad draw but is good enough to make his own luck.’’
Bit Of A Legend, known as Carter around the stable, will take his stake earnings to nearly $800,000 if he scores.
Not a bad return on a midget who found a home thanks to a young boy’s whim.
Meanwhile, champion trainer Mark Purdon is super- confident Follow The Stars can make up for his bad luck at the Jewels by winning the two-year-old colts’ and geldings’ Crown.
Knocked out of the race on the top turn at Cambridge when trucking, it was the only time Follow The Stars had been beaten all season, but Purdon says he is primed again to win his sixth race in as many starts in Australia.
‘‘I don’t think there’s anything in his class in the field and while he won well last week – clocking a final half of 55.5 – this week he seems better again.’’
Purdon said the colt’s coat, which had been dull during an unexplained flat patch last month, was nicely on the turn and his training during the week had been first class.
‘‘He feels really great and I think I’ve got him as good as he was before he won the APG Final.’’
Purdon said he would take luck out of the equation and go forward from the outside of the gate – and with the colt’s high speed he couldn’t see anything holding him.
If Follow The Stars wins, he will end the season with 10 wins from 11 starts and a bankroll of $488,977, a tally eclipsed only by the mighty Master Musician in his juvenile year, 1990, when he he won nine of 11 starts and $571,164.
Purdon said his fillies Linda Lovegrace and Big Lucy would need a lot of luck to win from second row draws but baby trotter Arya, scratched last week with a temperature, was a royal chance after winning at the Melton trials a few days later.