Tango Tara too strong

Classy pacer Tango Tara (Rocknroll Dance) scored his second win in less than 48 hours when he outpointed his harness racing rivals to take out the Bendigo Locksmiths Free For All at Bendigo last night.

Used to racing in better company Tango Tara appreciated the drop in class even though he was backing up after his win at Melton on Thursday night.

Despite starting on the outside of the second row Kate Gath allowed Tango Tara to stride up three wide before racing outside the leader Ozzie Punter with its stable mate Our Vincent Can Gogh then taking the one out and one back.

Louie Lou I who was a well supported second favourite took the trail behind the leader but he seemed to be racing ungenerously while Sew What was buried back three on the rails.

However along the back straight for the final time Tango Tara asserted his superiority by racing clear with a  winning break and he held his advantage to defeat a game Vincent Van Gogh by 2 metres with Tiger Band Wagon a further 4 metres away in third.

Kate Gath commented after the race.

“It’s good to get a winner. He felt terrific in the run. Sometimes 2 days after a run when he ran 1.51 at Melton can take it out of them but not him. We  got around the leader for nothing and after that he controlled the race and raced his last quarter in 26.8 seconds. He bounces back we love him.”

Raced by one of Andy Gath’s most prominent owners Norm Jenkin, Tango Tara has 19 races for just under $400,000 no mean feat for the nine year old.

The win was the first of a double for Kate Gath as in the next event Raging Whitebait (Raging Bull) led all the way to score impressively.

Louie Lou I couldn’t go on and he dropped out to finish last. A vet’s examination revealed no abnormalities.

An interesting runner was Code Bailey who hadn’t raced for nearly two years. The ten year old gelding was turned out in wonderful shape by the Lee stable. It was five years ago that Code Bailey won the Terang and Bendigo Cups and raced in the 2020 Miracle Mile. If he stands up to this preparation it is not beyond him to take out a good race in the future.

by Tony Milanese, for Harnesslink