‘Bullet’ on target in Miracle Mile bid

Don’t write off Victoria’s sole representative, the ageless Bulletproof Boy (Art Official), in harness racing’s sprint showcase, Saturday night’s $1 million Garrard’s Miracle Mile at Menangle.

That’s the message from trainer Scott Ewen, who admits a horror draw of gate seven has made the 11 year-old’s task tougher, but insists his pin-up pacer shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“He’s in amazing form at the moment and he gets in with a chance because he will come home hard,” Ewen said.

“The old fella is feeling great and enjoying himself. His sectional times in winning the Newcastle Mile (February 27) just blew us away – they were awesome.

“He’s become a bit of a show-off where we are based at the Cranbourne harness racing training centre. I think he knows he’s good!”

For Ewen, simply having a runner in the Miracle Mile is a dream realised.

“I’ve always thought the Miracle Mile was a race that would suit him but honestly, we’ve just been pinching ourselves since the Newcastle race where we not only qualified, but became the first horse in,” he said.

“I’ve just stuck to his normal routine and kept him ticking over.”

Ewen will head north in the early hours of Thursday morning, floating “Bullet” and a stablemate up the Hume Highway for the 10-hour trip to Sydney.

Former South Australians, Scott and his wife Kylie have enjoyed a remarkable ride since relocating to Victoria six and a half years ago.

“We’d sold our place in SA with the idea of downsizing and soon afterwards got offered a barn at Cranbourne with four horses to train as well as our own team,” Ewen said.

“I’d been working for Tip Top with 2am starts and Kylie had a cleaning job. While we may have needed a change, we wouldn’t have moved if we didn’t have Bulletproof Boy because we thought Victoria was where his racing future was.

“We believed he’d done nearly all he could in SA. He was both the two-year-old (six wins) and three-year-old (11 wins) horse of the year and we were excited at the idea of racing at Melton and the other big Victorian tracks.”

When the Ewens made the move in September, 2019, Bulletproof Boy had won about $110,000 – his stake earnings now are a little over $927,000.

Ewen said the horse has also developed a formidable connection with national leading reinsman James Herbertson.

“Bullet is a freak, but Herbie is too – as he displays nearly every day of the week,” Ewen said.

“They make an exciting team and the horse is probably going better than ever.”

The trainer has even made a small but effective change to Bulletproof Boy’s gear in recent weeks.

“He was getting down on his back bumpers (the heel area of his hind foot) really bad. So I’ve fitted plastic ‘flip flops’ which half the shoe fits into and it’s worked a treat,” Ewen said.

Bulletproof Boy is out of My Riviera Girl (Red River Hanover), a tough racemare who won 18 races and placed 19 times from 66 starts.

“She was a feral of a thing at times, but was so tough. I’d just get her around to the breeze in her races and she’d do the rest,” Ewen said.

“Eventually we had to retire her because she was forever kicking in the float and injuring herself.

“Bullet was a bit of a handful early days, but he’s as good as gold now.

“When you put the gig on he knows it’s time to get going – and we can’t wait for Saturday night!”

 

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink