Lee upped the ante down the back on the final occasion with a split in 28.7 and when Black Opal Jack licked clear of his rivals around the home turn, the son of Bettor’s Wish USA looked to ‘have it in the bag’.
Colosimo, Darryl Lawlor, ran on strongly up the straight but could not catch Black Opal Jack, which held on to score by a neck in a mile rate of 1:59.4.
Bond gave the pacer 12 starts in its two-year-old campaign and after posting a string of fourths, thirds and a second, Black Opal Jack saluted at Ararat in November and headed to the paddock for a well deserved break. The now three-year-old returned to racing in mid-March with a second placing at Maryborough, another at Ararat and a third at Melton before his well-deserved home track victory.
It was the first time the Pat Bellman Memorial was conducted at Ararat, being staged annually at Terang since 1987.
In May 1986, Bellman was driving in a race at Ballarat when he suffered a heart attack close to the finish line. Despite treatment from the ambulance officers on course, he could not be revived and died on the track.
Show of class
Isthisthereallife started an odd-on-favourite in the $6000 Ararat RSL Maiden Pace and the debutante did not let her supporters down, scoring by 7.2m in a rate of 1:59.6 for the 1790m sprint trip.
Trained at Terang by Marg and Paddy Lee for the Hamilton-Horsham Lewis family, the three-year-old daughter of Tall Dark Stranger, US, and Mistressofillusion led from gate two with the Matt Craven trained and driven filly Sorrydreamaway outside her for most of the journey.
Little changed until they rounded the final turn where Matriarch Daisy, Shane Hoban, chimed in three wide to challenge the leading pair.
But in the run to the post, Isthisthereallife showed her class and scored comfortably from Matriarch Daisy and Sorrydreamaway.
Isthisthereallife is a half-sister to the Lewis family’s smart mare Isthisjustfantasy, 13 wins, and Browniesatmidnight, nine wins, and looks set to go on and add plenty more to the scoreboard.
Boutika returns
Moyreisk trainer Barry Ainsworth and his daughter and Boutika owner Katrina returned to the winner’s list at Ararat when the seven-year-old gelding took out the Ararat Pre Mix King Trotters Handicap over 2195 metres.
Driven by Ada Massa, Boutika made a clean start from the 20 metre handicap and settled three back in the running line during the early stages of the race. Eased three-wide heading for the bell, Boutika moved up to join leader Brown Eyed Kate, Hannah Lewis, for the final lap. The pair raced head-and-head until the home turn where the son of Danny Bouchea raced clear of the pack and went on to score by nine metres from My Mother Said, Paddy Meade, in a rate of 2:08.3.
The victory took Boutika’s record to 14 wins and 25 minors from 113 starts and was well deserved, coming after a 26 start run of outs since his last success at Bendigo.
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