‘Losing the plot’ or finding his mojo?

Ararat horseman Michael Bellman isn’t quite sure how more than half of his current harness racing stable is made up of trotters.

“If you said I’ve lost the plot, I’d probably agree with that,” he laughed.

“They are enjoyable when they are going good, but when they aren’t, they can present huge challenges. I’m a bit lucky that there’s always someone I can bounce ideas off.

“Chris Lang is awesome. He has a great knowledge regarding the square gaiter. I also do all my own shoeing so I can experiment a bit, and if it doesn’t work, go back to what was best.”

But rather than losing the plot, it might be that Bellman is playing to his strengths in turning to the square gaiters.

Also, one of Victoria’s busiest freelance drivers, in recent months he has prepared talented trio Majestic Pride (Majestic Son), Jazspur (Pegasus Spur) and TicTok (Love You) to wins at Maryborough, Stawell, Ballarat, Swan Hill and Charlton.

“I reckon all of those horses have got a future. At the moment they are probably borderline metro horses and if they can take the next step, I’ll be very happy,” he said.

“Majestic Pride has so much ability and has won four of his last eight starts. He’s gone out for a freshen up now. Jazspur has won two of her past three and TicTok scored twice at Charlton in recent months.

“Gary and Tracey Hull race them. Gary is a plumber in Ararat, and they specialize in breeding trotters. Tracey has a harness racing background with her brother Tony Bond racing horses for years—and he had some nice ones.

“I can probably blame my mum D’Arne for getting tied up with more trotters, because she had a good few over the years. The late Peter Gibson who lived at Marnoo was the main reason our family originally got into trotters, and he was a great help.”

Bellman has trained 12 winners for the season—nine of these courtesy of his trotting team. And in the driving ranks he’s really hit top gear with 75 wins and 166 placings putting him in the top 10 for the State.

“My dad Neville gives me a hand around the stables. To be honest I wouldn’t be able to do all the driving I do around the State without him,” Bellman said.

Bellman will line up at Melton tomorrow night with Jazspur in the Group 3 TAB Breeders Crown Graduate and will be hoping to get a run with TicTok, who is emergency for the Group 2 Hylands Breeders Crown Championship for four-year-old trotting mares.

“Tictok impressed at the Maryborough trials last Sunday, running her last mile in 1.58 and quarter in 28 and a bit. I was very happy with her,” Bellman said.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink