Western Australian sprinter Black Heart Bart’s odds have eased after the drawing a horror barrier in the Group 1 $2m AAMI Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben on Saturday.
Black Hart Bart finished fourth to Flamberge, above, in the Darley Goodwood at Morphettville. Photo by Jenny Barnes.
But even though the betting indicated that the Black Heart Bart would have the job ahead after drawing seventeen in the original barrier draw in the final field of sixteen plus five emergencies, trainer Vaughn Sigley can still see the four year old figuring in the finish.
Black Heart Bart is now on the third line of betting at $7.50 after being a $6 chance prior to the barrier draw on Wednesday morning.
If none of the five emergencies fail to get a last minute call up, Black Heart Bart will jump from gate fourteen in the sixteen horse field and Sigley can’t see it as a great disadvantage as he gets back in his races anyway.
“He is just going to have to get back a bit and ride him for luck,” Sigley said.
“I don’t mind him being out a little bit wide anyway, he tends to need a bit of room, a big striding horse so it is what it is and that is what we have got.”
Black Heart Bart is the winner of seven races in his home state of Western Australia with wins at Ascot, Bunberry and Pinjarra, all in the anti-clockwise direction but Sigley can’t see a problem with the Blackfriars gelding racing for the first time in the reverse direction.
Sigley has been wintering at the Deagon Training Complex in Brisbane and said that Black Heart Bart has handled the opposite direction okay in trackwork.
“That’s new obviously. He seems to handle it pretty well at Deagon, working around there, a little bit different under pressure obviously but we are confident that he will get around it okay,” Sigley said.
Sigley made a stopover in Adelaide on his way to Queensland and Black Heart Bart wasn’t disgraced when fourth after a tardy getaway to Flamberge in the Group 1 $500,000 Darley Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville on May 16.
“He didn’t get the best of jumps, the horse next to him lunged at the gates a couple of times,” Sigley said.
“It just off set him a little bit and he got back obviously and Glenn just had to ride him for luck from there,” Sigley said.
Experienced Perth jockey Glenn Smith has been Black Heart Bart’s regular rider since December last year and the pair has recorded five wins together.
Smith was aboard in the Darley Goodwood and teams up with him again in the Stradbroke Handicap.
Black Heart Bart and Smith strung together four wins on the trot over the Summer months in Perth with wins in the Listed $100,000 Summer Scorcher (1000m) and the Listed $100,000 Cyril Flower Stakes (1200m), both at Ascot, in the Listed $120,000 Pinjarra Classic (1300m) at Pinjarrra and then in the Listed $120,000 Bunberry Stakes (1400m) at Bunberry.
Stradbroke Handicap market order at Ladbrokes.com.au: $5 Lumosty, $6 Charlie Boy, $7.50 Black Heart Bart, $8 Generalife, $8.50 Delectation, $9 Knoydart, $10 Boban, $11 Sacred Star, $12 Srikandi, $16 Hot Snitzel, $17 Lord Of The Sky, $21 Big Money, $31 El Roca, Rock Sturdy, Temple Of Boom, $41 Fast ‘N’ Rocking, Smokin’ Joey, Flamingo Star, $81 Fontelina, $101 Riva De Lago, Tried And Tired.
