Owner Alan Bell may now think again after that run.
Fading to 6th and having 5 horses run past him in the last 100m or so...
Stay in Perth Alan.
Owner Alan Bell said that he would send Can Return Fire to Sydney to be trained by John McCarthy after the gelding had run in the Village Kid Sprint.
IMO he would be better off trying to run the race of his life in WAs ID heat. Their are 27 noms for NSW horses in the Ben Hur, opps the ID heats & 12 of these are Mccarthy horses so another makes it 13 Alan. If only 2 get in (ID heat winners) yours may not be one of them. Or do you think the powers that be will invite the remaining finalists from the heats in Sydney ?????????
Good luck regardless.
Owner Alan Bell may now think again after that run.
Fading to 6th and having 5 horses run past him in the last 100m or so...
Stay in Perth Alan.
Barney, I don't think they greyhounds have taken any harm from Graeme Bates influence or thoroughbreds have suffered from the multiple starters of Hawkes, Cummings, Smith, Waterhouse (especially two year old classics) or more recently Snowden. The difference is the horses are being trained by the leaders of their craft in an industry that strives to produce animals to the races that have an edge, foundered on technology, feeding regimes, veterinary care and training programs that produce results...very much as the McCarthy juggernaut does in harness racing at present. If you are a punter who bets on McCarthy horses you know that these horses produce better results, race consistently and rarely does the less favoured stablemate beat its more fancied stablemate. If however if you are a punter that hates McCarthy horses for whatever reason then you ain't gonna back as many winners. Eventually when you have a stable full of stars like Purdon does, eventually those horses are going to clash. IMO I don't see that having half the field trained by one person as a downer. It should not make picking a winner any easier or harder if the stewards are doing their job properly. If you asked Harvey, I don't think he has any issues with his horses being in a large stable that produces results.
In regard to Can Return Fire he does have a couple of 1.53 results to his name, but I personally don't think the horse would be competitive in its current form and I doubt could lift his form to the current level required. But seeing as I have touched on the McCarthy stable, they do have an extra-ordinary strike rate with former WA pacers in getting the best out of them when they come east.