HORSE RACING
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Peter Piras used to tell his schoolmates they would be winning one day.
The dream, as he calls it, is well and truly alive with Billy Phelps.
"I used to say at school to them that one day we're going to get a horse and we're going to be winning," Piras boasted to brothers Daniel and Lance Tagliapietra, as well as Mark Moussa.
"But this bloke is probably the best trotter we've had."
But not quite good enough for restaurateur Piras and parents Giorgio and Neve to completely shut down their busy Cosa Nostra eatery on Corrimal Street whenever Billy Phelps goes around.
"Last time we missed the race while the rest got to enjoy it," Peter joked.
The Tagliapietra brothers were also known for their deeds on the district's rugby league fields with Wests and have harnessed their wives to be included in the syndicate that races Billy Phelps.
A winner at two of his last three starts at Menangle, Wollongong trainer Mark Tracey is eyeing off Group race success with the five-year-old later in the season.
Having "filled out and developed into a really nice horse" according to his conditioner, the Pegasus Spur gelding can stake those claims in the last at Menangle on Saturday night.
"Later in the season, there's a couple of nice races in Melbourne to go down and test the water and see how he goes against them. It should be his year next year," Tracey said.
That's the ever cautious trainer speaking, but the big-thinking owner is savouring every moment.
And who can blame him.
"People are saying he could be the best trotter in NSW - if not Australia," Piras said.
Tubman confident in Merlin
Merlin Mustang is only set for a hit-and-run mission in the paddock after this weekend’s campaign-ending run, according to trainer Mick Tubman.
‘‘He’s not a horse you have to spell so we’ll do what we did before with the Villiers,’’ Tubman said.
‘‘He’s better like that because it takes him too long to get fit otherwise.’’
Merlin Mustang flourished from a six-week let-up to finish fifth in the Group2 Villiers Stakes (1600m) before Christmas – a ploy Tubman is likely to employ for the back end of the Sydney autumn and into the Brisbane winter carnival.
The four-year-old looms as a strong winning chance in the Benchmark 95 Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
‘‘He’s actually improved from the run,’’ Tubman said.
‘‘We might as well strike while the iron’s hot. We’ll give him a couple of weeks in the paddock and then go from there.’’
Robl buoyed after trainer’s backing
The race might be limited to a select pool of horses but the Inglis Classic can go a long way towards confirming a jockey’s opinion of the trainer he is riding for on Saturday.
Peter Robl will partner a last-start bush winner in the $250,000 Inglis Classic at Rosehill but he has been heartened by trainer Matthew Dale’s assessment that Meticulously is much better than country class.
‘‘The horse looked the part at Wagga,’’ Robl said. ‘‘It was a very nice win.
‘‘The Inglis Classic looks a hard race but Matty reckons the horse is up to it so we’ll find out.
‘‘He is a very good judge and it’s not going to surprise me if the horse measures up.’’
Meticulously was one of two colts by Not A Single Doubt that Dale spent $70,000 on at 2012’s Inglis Classic Sale in Sydney.
He paid $30,000 for Meticulously which, on the merit of his first-up Wagga Wagga win, looks every bit as good as Unanimously did at the same stage of his career.