A trip down memory lane with master horseman

Brian Gath might not be involved in this year’s PETstock Ballarat Pacing Cup, but the master harness racing horseman has opened up about how he plotted to bring down champion Blacks A Fake in the 2008 edition of the race.

Gath produced an aggressive but calculated drive aboard the Emma Stewart-trained entire Safari, sitting parked outside Natalie Rasmussen’s star and prevailing in a stirring two-horse duel at Bray Raceway.

The race is regarded as one of the sport’s classics, with the performance of Safari to sit outside and defeat the eventual four-time Inter Dominion winner certainly one of the best in Ballarat Pacing Cup history.

“I was so proud of that horse and I knew it was a great race,” Gath told Trots Talk.

“I’ve never been in a race that two horses fought to the line like these two did.”

Gath’s success in the Ballarat feature does not start and end with Safari, however.

The now 77-year-old drove wins with Doubter in 1982, No Identity in 1992 and Whale Of A Tale in 1997, and also trained Harley Hanover for son Matthew to score aboard in 1998.

“Ballarat has always been very special to me and I look forward to watching it every year if I’m not in it,” Gath said.

“It’s a real special race, no doubt. It’s one of the great ones.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN GATH BELOW: