There is some fresh blood in Australia’s trotting ranks.
London To A Brick’s (Bettor’s Delight) powerhouse harness racing win in last Saturday night’s $100,000 Queensland Trotters’ Cup swept him into third place on the Australian Trotting Masters’ points table.
The James Rattray-trained four-year-old is a “newbie” to open-class ranks.
He trails behind boom European import Callmethebreeze (220 points) and champion Just Believe (160) on the Trotting Masters’ points table.
The two remaining legs of the series are the $75,000 Aldebaran Park Bill Collins Trotters’ Sprint at Melton on October 12 and the Inter Dominion trotting final at Menangle on December 14.
London To A Brick, who is by champion pacing stallion Bettors Delight, has raced just 26 times for 12 wins, 7 placings and banked $319,317.
Last Saturday night’s win continued his fantastic record when Rattray travels with him to Queensland.
“He loves it up here; he’s improved with each of his three runs this trip,” Rattray said.
“And, of course, his first big win was up here (Albion Park) in last year’s (Group 1) Great Square.”
London To A Brick opened his latest Brisbane campaign with a fighting second to star mare Rockinwithattitude in the Group 1 Great Square on July 13, followed by a third placing in the Group 3 Trotters’ Sprint a week later.
Despite doing all the work outside the leader in a race where favourite Gus took charge of his driver Pete McMullen in front, London To A Brick refused to lay down when challenged late by talented local mare Adelle.
London To A Brick dug deep to win by a half-head in a brilliant and track record-breaking 1min56sec mile rate for the 2138m.
“He’s run some great races along the way, but that’s as good as he’s ever gone,” Rattray said.
by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Australia