Burley and "best mate" win at Alexandra Park

By Michael Guerin

Steph Burley loves going to the races with her best mate.

It helps when that best mate keeps making her money while they are at those races, which is what Bolt For the Hill did again at Alexandra Park on Friday night.

He has been doing it a lot lately for Burley, who drives the five-year-old trotter and owns him with her mother Heather.

Steph does plenty of the work with him too even though he is officially trained by trotting supremos Michelle Wallis and Bernie Hackett.

Bolt For The Hill has been with the Burleys since he was born, made even more special as they sadly lost his dam the following year.

“We just love him, he is my best mate,” says Burley.

“I love driving him and Mum loves watching him race. For me it also gives me a break from my day job.”

Bolt For The Hill has always looked to have open class ability but Burley says he has “grown up” since joining the Hackett/Wallis barn after spending the early part of his career at John Dickie’s stables.

“It has been good for him to learn about a new environment and have to work with other horses on the beach.

“It is hard to explain what it is like out there, it is really special and great for the mind and I think it has been good for his too.”

It has also helped Bolt For The Hill’s manners and fact he can now be relied to step away and trot has put him on the pathway to open class, which he is where he found himself last Friday when second to Higher Power, beating home many of the north’s other elite trotters.

Burley knows it is too early to be chasing a Dominion dream at this NZ Cup week but the Rowe Cup next year has to be an aim, even if she deliberately stops herself from talking about it much just yet.

If he keeps improving at the rate he has in the last 12 months it is not unrealistic to think Bolt For The Hill will not only make it to those big races but be a factor in some of them, manners and marker pegs being such an advantageous combination.

One horse definitely heading to better races is the filly who chased him home on Friday night in Our Col.

Fresh up after her winter spell and off a handicap she stormed home to finish a close second and she adds even more depth to a wonderful three-year-old crop of trotting fillies.

While Bolt For The Hill was one of the heart-warming stories from Friday so to is the continued consistently strong form of father and daughter training team Derek and Neita Balle.

After winning with Money Mayweather at Cambridge on Thursday then went bigger and better with B Envious taking out the $30,000 Grand Park Metro Pacing Final on Friday.

Perfectly handled by James Stormont, he led then trailed and raced clear of some smart opponents in a 1:54.4 mile rate for the 1700m, one of two winners on the night for Stormont, the other Muchacho trained by Neita’s partner Zev Meredith.

The Trotter’s Metro Final went to Tatanka for trainer Scott Dickson and in the hands of Andre Poutama, the three-year-old suggesting he has more Alexandra Park wins in his future.