The well bred harness racing two year old filly Ultimate Challenge (Bettor’s Delight) impressed when she took on the older boys and beat them at Ascot Park today (Oct. 27).
She’s out of Christian Cullen mare Ultimate Reality, who’s a half sister to Ultimate Sniper (14) and Ultimate Machete (13). Ultimate Challenge arrived at Nathan Williamson’s Branxholme stable as a broken in yearling.
“Whoever had her before did a good job because she’s been a lovely wee filly all the way through. She’s got good manners and is a typical Bettor’s Delight. There’s a nice fillies race next week so I just wanted to give her a run today,” Williamson said.
She’s owned by Gary Clarke from Oamaru.
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE REPLAY
“Peter Lagan rang me up one day and said she was for sale. I’ve got a few in that family,” Clarke said.
He also has a share in a full sister to Ultimate Sniper (Queen Of Soul) with Ged Mooar, Macca Lodge and Hazel van Opzeeland and he owns outright a yearling full brother to Ultimate Sniper called Ultimate Weapon which Williamson is handling.
Clarke has a good number of horses in work, spread across various stables in Otago and Southland. One of them Hurricane Hendrix, showed a lot of potential when he won on debut as a two year old. After the win though, he never recaptured his form in seven subsequence starts and a deep seated injury was discovered after he was turned out.
“He never did that well for the first few months. We found he had a problem with his foot so we got it dug out. He was too good a horse to go that bad. He’s back in and has just started doing pace work,” Clarke said.
For complete race results, click here.
by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink