Bettors Heart claims Miracle Mile start

LEADING Kiwi reinsman John Dunn thought he had been beaten.

Seconds later the brother of star reinsman Dexter Dunn was grinning from ear to ear after Bettors Heart was declared the winner of tonight's $200,000 Boden Projects Ladyship Mile.

And that grin got even broader when he was informed the mare had earned a berth in next week's $100,000 Ainsworth Miracle Mile after her stunning win.

Bettors Heart (John Dunn) dived on the line to score the narrowest of wins over Bettor Enforce, robbing Luke McCarthy of his second Group One of the night after he earlier had scored with King Of Swing in the Allied Express Sprint.

Our Princess Tiffany came from well back to grab third, just in front of Belle Of Montana.

A scintillating mile rate of 1:49.7 hurtled Bettors Heart into contention for the Miracle Mile and gave Dunn his biggest win outside of New Zealand.

"Yep, I thought I might have left my run a fraction too late," said Dunn.

"But we got there and this mare deserves this, she has done a great job.

Bettors Heart's trainer Peter Bagrie has been stabled with Shane and Lauren Tritton at the Menangle Training Centre for the past week and gave the champion pair much of the credit for their mighty win.

"Shane has been a terrific help to me this week in getting this mare ready to run the race of her life," said Bagrie.

"We weren't certain she had got there but she has done such a great job for us both in New Zealand and here . . . and tonight she didn't let us down," said Bagrie.

Club Menangle