PACING
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A TEMPORARY change of scenery has helped former Bathurst Gold Crown winner Beetson pick up a spot in this Saturday’s $50,000 Carousel Final after he took out the ninth heat at Penrith last week.
It took three goes for the gelding to secure his spot, having finished sixth and second in two of the earlier heats of the series at Newcastle and Menangle, where the final will be staged on the weekend.
The win came after a switch for the former Peter Trevor-Jones Bathurst trained seven-year-old, with Belinda McCarthy taking over his work for the time being.
However, Trevor-Jones still owns him.
“He’s probably been with their stable for five or six weeks now, a bit like Ima Gucci Girl, we just couldn’t find enough races around here for them so we thought we’d send them away,” Trevor-Jones explained.
“If we can get them more races down in Sydney for a while and they can pick up some wins down there, then happy days.
“It is too far for me to go with just one horse to race down there, by the time you get home it is 2am, so we thought it would work out better this way and based on Thursday’s run it has been worth it already.”
Beetson’s form had been up and down, having saluted in a 1:58.4 mile rate at Young in his penultimate start for Trevor-Jones only to be given a golden run in his next outing at the same venue and failing to capitalise, finishing second.
His second in the Carousel heat at Menangle with Luke McCarthy driving showed that Beetson was nearing his best again, and having drawn gate one for last Thursday’s heat, he was primed to do well.
The punters backed him accordingly and Beetson began as a $1.80 favourite.
Taken straight to the front by his driver, he remained there throughout the 2,125 metres and did enough to hold off $12.30 chance Smart Major, who spent the majority of the trip sitting off the leader’s shoulder.
Winning by two metres, Beetson recorded a swift mile rate of 1:58.5 and gives good reason for optimism going into the final.
“He’s still graded as a C1 horse and this series is for C2-C5, so he got some help in the draw for the heat and probably will again for the final,” Trevor-Jones said.
“If you’ve got a good horse, you have to chase the good races and even if he’s not winning, to run a place in these strong series’ is a good result.
“I actually won this series back in the 90s with a horse called Perfect Finish and it was a very strong race back then, they are trying to build it up to be the same again.
“After this I will probably bring him back home to Bathurst again and maybe look to a series in Queensland that has a $50,000 final as well.
“So far though the McCarthys have done a great job with him. I don’t know if it is just the change or some new gear that they’ve used on him or what, but he’s done well so far.”