American named pacers ready to go for Dalgety

Republican Party (Bettor’s Delight) and Chicago Bear (Bettor’s Delight) have two major harness racing assignments this weekend in two different islands, and co-trainer Cran Dalgety is confident both will go well.

Republican Party runs in the Listed $50,000 Roy Purdon Memorial at Alexandra Park tomorrow night and takes on a small but quality field of eight.

“He actually trained super this morning (Wednesday). I took him to Alexandra Park and he’s really upgraded on this campaign, so I hope my timing is okay for this week and next week,” said Dalgety who trains in partnership with his wife Chrissie.

The five year old entire who will be driven by Zachary Butcher has been in the north since March and his form is starting to build.

“Being a stallion he can get a bit gross inside. Before this campaign he’d had a long break and he’s just starting to come to it now.”

After the Auckland Cup, Republican Party will stay close to home in Canterbury.

“He’s probably not sharp enough to go to Queensland. We’d love to go there but that’s where all the Roll Royce’s are going. The trainer would love to be there, but I’d better not go unless I’m in the top three.”

Meanwhile the Dalgetys will line up Chicago Bear in Sunday’s $22,000 Anne Thompson Graduation Final at Rangiora on Sunday. The highly priced yearling has taken a while to get to the races but was impressive when winning a heat of the series last weekend.

“It’s been quite character building, time wise. I’ve exhausted the owner’s patience. He’s starting to come to it now. (He) raced well at his last two starts and he’ll be a touch better for Sunday. It’s a good wee race to start getting the money back. He’s drawn one so we’ll cherish the number.”

The four year old is a full brother to multimillion dollar pacer Chicago Bull and Dalgety says the horse is finally turning into a racehorse.

“He’s probably had a hundred and one issues but the top two are immaturity and gait. He’s taken a long time to get a smooth gait. With the maturity thing he was just mucking around and thinking it was just a big holiday camp. We’ve taken all the rough edges off him and we’ve pretty much got a racehorse now. I’m a patient trainer but this one has tested me. We hope we can take small steps for bigger and better things and a hundred of them.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink