Zachary Butcher salutes after winning on Bet On The Tiger at Cambridge three starts ago. PHOTO: Chanelle Lawson.
You can Bet On The Tiger with a lot more confidence this time at Cambridge
By Barry Lichter • 22 March 2022
Bet On The Tiger will never be good enough to claim a slot in ‘The Race’ but he’s capable enough of winning The Race 14th April Mobile Pace at Cambridge on Thursday night.
Punters should ignore the drop off in form of Lincoln Farms’ colt in the fourth race, says trainer Ray Green, now that Bet On The Tiger has shrugged off a virus that has dogged the team.
Two starts back at Cambridge it wasn’t just his outside second row draw and parked trip that saw him drop out to 10th.
The horse was found to have snot in his lungs after the race and had to go out for a brief spell.
“A lot of the horses here had been sick and he definitely had the virus,” Green said.
And last time, on March 10, while Bet On The Tiger led from the outset, Green’s fears that he would be short on race fitness proved correct when he ran out of puff 75 metres from home and finished fourth.
“If he hadn’t drawn so well that night I wouldn’t have lined him up. He hadn’t raced for six weeks so he definitely needed it. He’s no champion but we know he’s better than that.”
In his previous four starts at Cambridge Bet On The Tiger had racked up a formline of -3221.
On Thursday, the three-year-old leaves from seven on the gate, not ideal over the 1700 metre dash, but only Ideal Tomado in five has the gate speed to worry him.
The field is ordinary to say the least, ranging between rating 38 and rating 48, and Bet On The Tiger has also had the benefit of a workout at Pukekohe last Saturday.
In it, he faced much better horses over 2050 metres, leading, trailing and battling on for a close fifth behind Fernleigh Cash (R50), Romeo Shard (R57), The Notorious R B G (R49) and John Wayne (R51).
“He’ll probably need another one before we see the best of him, but he should go much better this time,” Green said.
Zachary Butcher takes the reins.
More news in Harness
Tyson KOs rivals but Ray floored by stewards’ post-race song and dance over assistant’s help
Dr Green goes to work on mentally fragile Tyson hoping to pen better script for Friday
Ray tells why he rates Lincoln Lou clearly best of Lincoln Farms’ quartet in the fourth race
It’s all up to Angus - Brisbane’s young gun needs to drive a pearler on Nemo at Redcliffe
Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them
Mark Dux’s comments
Wednesday night at Redcliffe
Race 1: Captain Nemo
7.17pm NZ time
“It’s a reasonable field, they’re not push-overs, but they’re all beatable. It will all come down to who gets the right trip. If we have something go our way we could get some of it as there’s not a lot between them and I don’t think he’s far off now. We’ve got a bad draw again and there’s a bit of speed inside us so I’ll tell Angus to just play it by ear.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 4: Lincoln La Moose
7.32pm
“He’s a pretty good horse. He was still below his best last time at Cambridge - he needed the race - but went very well for second behind King’s Watch. With his ace draw, he should be right up there for Zac (Butcher). He always looked a bit delicate but he’s got tougher.”
Race 4: Obadiah Dragon
7.32pm
“He’ll go a good race but our others look better here. His last run was below par for him so we took a blood off him and he had a bit of a virus going on. He was at the tail end of it but it was enough to stop him.”
Race 4: Lincoln Lou
7.32pm
“Even if he’s half a run short, I don’t think it will matter, he’ll still be too good for this lot. He only had a mild virus which came right with treatment and he’s trained on well since. He feels pretty good and if I was betting man, I’d bet him for sure based on his last run, which was massive.”
Race 4: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.32pm
“He’s in a ‘coming of age’ phase. He rushed up beside them last start and wanted to lay all over them and give them a hug. But that’s normal coltish behaviour. He does that in training as well, rushes up and switches off. He has a lot of ability but also a few little behaviour traits that we need to get on top of.”
Race 6: My Copy
8.24pm
“It won’t be easy from four on the second row but he’s very honest and, if opportunity knocks, he’ll be right there. If he gets a trip, he’s always ready to pounce.”
Race 9: Tyson
9.39pm
“He should be one of the favourites. The raw ability is there and he’ll definitely win races as he has a bit of speed. How far he will take us we have yet to find out but I thought he did really well last time given the run he had.”
