IF you ask Bernie Hewitt to nominate which member of his Georges Plains stable is his best chance of finding success in the 2017 edition of the Bathurst Harness Racing Club’s Soldiers Saddle series, it is a hard task.
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Hewitt will have nine runners in action across the three 1,730 metre heats on Wednesday night at the Bathurst Paceway and each of them has good claims on a semi-final spot.
All save Im A Black Beauty, who will go from barrier eight in heat one, have drawn well, but she is not without her chances given talented reinsman Mat Rue will be in the gig.
“Most of them race really well,” Hewitt said.
“Might And Main won the Jack Honan Memorial and came first in her heat too and Our Little Digger won the Breeders Blue Final his last start and that’s a $50,000 race, so he’s coming in off that.
“Im A Black Beauty came along really well last season and she was a Breeders Blue winner as a two-year-old.
“Hez All Courage and Mammals Magic, they are both solid runners, and Im With Lexy won the Canola Cup.
“Taylors Reason, she won the Breeders Blue Final for three-year-old fillies, she had another run after that before we spelled her, Lethal Promise was solid last season and Little Bit Dusty, he’s only new, I’ve only had him for a couple of starts and he’s coming along well.
“Probably the one I’m most excited about is Taylors Reason.”
While Hewitt is a strong supporter of the annual series, he said he did not specifically target the Soldiers Saddle this season.
It was more a case of he had runners already in action or resuming who were suited to the C1 to C2 series.
“It was a case of a nice race and a lot of them have been going pretty good. Instead of giving most of them a second trial Monday night, I thought I’ll put them in this,” he said.
“A lot of them, their fitness is good and they are racing well. Hopefully they can qualify for the semi and if they do, their fitness will only improve.
“So hopefully we get a bunch through to the semis and then some through to the final and it is also a good way to start their season. It’s nice to be able to race at home too and not have to travel three hours to another track.”
Last year there were no semi-finals, with Hewitt’s Art Mistress starting the decider as the $3.50 favourite on the back on an impressive heat win. She was only able to manage sixth in that final.
“For sure it is hard to win, it’s like the Star Trek Series, only one cane win it at the end of the day. Through the heats, semis and final a lot of them race quite well for a number of people, but only one can win it,” Hewitt said.
Racing at Bathurst on Wednesday night commences at 6.08pm.
