Gary chases a second cup

The chance to again have his stable’s name etched on the Moama Bowling Club Echuca Pacing Cup is well worth the across-state haul for Gary Barton, harness racing trainer and owner of cup hopeful Mustang Bart.

The Warrnambool resident will hit the road tomorrow to venture to the riverside trots town, where the $30,000 Group 3 classic has attracted a cracking field amid a 10-race card.

“It would be five hours on a good day in a truck but we will have a crack at it,” Barton said. “I won it many, many years ago with Another Bart but I haven’t been back there since.”

That cup win came in 1990 and Barton said he’d been waiting to get a horse good enough to have another tilt and, in Mustang Bart, he believes he may have just the ticket.

The Gotta Go Cullect four-year-old is a winner of nine of his 35 starts, with Echuca’s cup to be his sixth race at Group level, attempts that have thus far produced two placings and an eye-catching fifth in the January 27 TAB Multiplier 4YO Bonanza.

“He went super (in the 4YO Bonanza) and I think he’s got a really good chance in the race if you have a look at the sectionals the other night, he ran his last mile in 1:52 and he got home in 53.7 – they don’t go much better than that,” Barton said.

“At the 400m he was 25m off the lead and he’s been beaten nine, so he’s got a big chance in the cup if he has a bit of luck.”

Fellow Echuca combatant and favourite for the cup Motu Meteor was also impressive when third in the 4YO Bonanza, while Code Black and Shakahari are also among a class field.

All bodes for a cracking cup, which shares the program with the J A Connelly Crystal Bucket, a $12,000 trot that carries important points in the Maori’s Idol Trophy.

Saturday night combatants Quillabamba, Sky Petite and My Skypocket, all trotting cup winners this season, are among the leaders for the trophy, which for the first time carries a $10,000 prize for connections.

Racing at Echuca starts at 6.32pm, with the cup to take centre stage at 9.30pm.