Breathless Bertie’s shock win at 75 – 1 in the finale at Kenilworth on Wednesday lit up the tote board. The despised long shot paid R11 a place, triggering 13K trifecta and 70K quartet dividends when chased home by other outsiders, Saint Donan and Tell Me More.
Such a freak result had many baffled punters ripping up tickets afterwards – equally bewildered Noordhoek beach- based trainer Mike Stewart related the circumstances building up to this unlikely outcome.
“Breathless Bertie is a tearaway and none of the grooms can hold him on the gallops. He even runs away with me, sometimes veering off into the sand-dunes. Last week he took off again, bolting all the way along the beach, galloping 7km’s to Kommetjie. We lead him back totally exhausted, then just left him in the paddock since Friday to recover. We thought, well that’s it, and decided to give him one more race using a Citation bit as a last chance, then send him off to PE. And now he pops up and wins! ” the happily startled trainer explained.
The wild son of Albert Hall had recorded just a solitary score from 15 starts and placing six times, before delivering this bomb result. He has understandably been kept to the minimum distance because he pulls so hard, and is seldom able to sustain his speed for even that short trip. Yet things worked out great in Wednesday’s 1000m MR 72 race, despite the unusual prep.
Breathless Bertie raced handy under Xavier Carstens and kept on too strongly for Tell Me More, who tried in vain to go with him down the inner, whilst Saint Donan closed ground late in the centre, even though his rider dropped a rein.
Punters often make the mistake thinking that trainers are all-knowing and can manipulate results at will. What is much closer to reality is that they are simply doing the best they can with flesh-and-blood creatures of varying physiques and temperaments, with Breathless Bertie’s dramatic wake-up performance being a case in point. Referring to that unscheduled bullet-workout along Noordhoek beach past the Kakapo shipwreck to Kommetjie, the good-humoured Stewart made this tongue in cheek aside “Perhaps, we should train him that way in future…”