Luck returns for Threepeat

Dame Fortune made a long awaited return to Gary Pekin and his pacer Cresco Threepeat (Blissfull Hall) at Shepparton recently. 

Astute harness racing punters who backed the eight year old from $14 to $8 were suitably rewarded when the son of Blissfull Hall  staved off the challenges after enjoying the run of the race in the Hunter Rural Pace. 

Showing a distinct penchant for the Shepparton track, Cresco Threepeat has now chalked up nine of his 18 wins at the Kialla Raceway. 

Pekin said Cresco Threepeat’s form was much better than it appeared on paper. 

“He has had no luck in races for the past two months,” Pekin said. 

“If you looked closely at his form he has either locked wheels or punctured a tyre in his past four starts. 

Two starts ago at Yarra Valley he ran ninth and was going to run second at worst when we locked wheels,” he said. 

The reigning Horse Of The Year at Albury, Cresco Threepeat has proven a blueprint for the National Rating System according to Pekin. 

“The highest he has rated is 57 and he’s won 18 races, so with the reduction in breeding numbers and the field sizes falling away it is important to keep horses like him in the system and able to earn,” he said. 

“He’s no star but he always tries his best which is why he’s won over $90,000 in prizemoney.” 

A veteran of 126 race starts, Cresco Threepeat isn’t headed for the retirement paddock anywhere in the near future. 

“We injected his joints because he had a crook fetlock before he raced and he has been sound ever since,” he said. 

For complete race results, click here.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink