All’s cool with project horse Bart

Young Charlton team Michael Gadsden and Denbeigh Wade have always had an opinion of four-year-old pacer Notsokool, but it was just a matter of sorting him out.

“The horse was badly-gaited and would pace very rough, but he always showed us a bit, though,” Gadsden said.

“I have to be honest and say it was mostly Denbeigh’s work to get him to where he is. Going back a while I threw the toys out of the cot and told Denbeigh if she liked the horse, he was all hers!”

And Notsokool (The Wrath Of Pan-Im Totally Kool (Totally Ruthless) put his best foot forward at Shepparton on Tuesday night with an impressive victory in the $7000 Neatline Homes Maiden Pace.

Wade wasn’t afraid to put the pacer known around the stables as “Bart” into the race. She made a forward move in the middle stages to the death seat and he responded nicely in the latter stages to power away for an easy 11 metre win.

“Denbeigh was on the phone to me pretty much straight after the race, reminding me that she always said he went alright and giving me some ribbing,” Gadsden laughed.

“She does all the work with the horse. I’ve probably sat behind him only two or three times recently.”
The young team, based at the Charlton Training Centre, believe that using the centre’s straight track has greatly benefitted Notsokool.

“The straight track has been great to give him confidence,” Gadsden said.

“We decided to work him against one of our real good ones in Doitson with the idea of putting pressure on him and it certainly made him work much better. In one heat he beat Doitson, so he was certainly stepping up.”

Gadsden said regardless of his work at home, Notsokool had been a “project horse”.

“He had a tendency to jump out of his gear. He’s green and inexperienced so he does run around a bit and then gets onto himself,” he said.

“I’ve mucked around sorting out his shoeing, and in the end, I put three-quarter hack shoes on the back and that has worked.”

Gadsden said John Kennedy, the owner of Notsokool, had always liked him.

“John has had some nice horses over the years and won races in town, so he is a very good judge. He’s got a farm at Pyramid Hill and runs a few sheep, and he works the horses up before they come to us,” he said.

“We’ve had a few from John now, and it’s great that he’s happy to do the groundwork because the horse was well and truly fit when he arrived at our place.

“He ran two minutes and home in 57 in his first trial, he’s got a good motor and the ability was always there. It was just a case of sorting out his feet, getting his confidence back and then him putting it all together.”

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink