$50K showdown right on Richie's radar

It took lively Victorian trainer-driver Richie Caruana only 84.3 seconds to recently tick a big item off his harness racing bucket list.

After 30 years in the sport, Caruana's handy pacer Off The Radar (Grinfromeartoear-Mattsbabe (Safely Kept) became his first metropolitan-class winner, and the Rockbank horseman couldn't have been happier.

Off The Radar took out the $20,000 third heat of Harness Racing Victoria's summer feature the Mercury 80 – a series (formerly known as the Stampede) run over the super sprint distance of 1200 metres. Now on Saturday night at Melton, the pair have drawn the three alley (out of two with the scratching of the emergency) in the G2 $50,000 final.

Caruana can't wait to be part of the action, and it will undoubtedly be a high-point of his harness racing career.

"I became a trainer in my own right after my Uncle Grazio passed away in 1988 and I just love the horses, but it is becoming harder. Everything is dearer, especially the feed and management, but I just love it, and this is a real kick-along," he said.

"I like the sport, but I really just have a passion for being around horses and I'm looking forward to the final bit time – what he's done for us here has just been a bonus.

"I thought he was a bit of a chance, because he had been going along OK, but things panned out in the heat for us and he did the job.

"We won't look past the final just yet, but whatever happens, he's probably earned himself a short let-up. He's a bit of a fat horse though, so I won't give him too long!"

The helter-skelter format isn't necessarily to purists' liking, but it certainly suited Caruana and his seven-year-old stallion.

Starting from barrier five, Caruana eased Off The Radar out of the early contest, then enjoyed a nice run in transit in the one-out-two-back position. Caruana moved out on the corner for a run three and four wide, and Off The Radar did the rest, scoring by three metres over race favorite Call Me Hector, who also qualifies for the final.

Caruana always has a "few in work", but with youngsters and a couple of "project horses" in the team, Off The Radar is currently his only horse at the races.

"I've trained a lot of horses over the years, but he's definitely the best one I've had so far – tracks are quicker now days of course, but he's certainly given me one of the biggest thrills I've had in racing," the elated trainer said.

"He's a bit of a hard horse to work out. He's a stallion, but a gentle horse, and if you had to work him you wouldn't want to, he's just so lazy and laid back," he said.

"He loves what he's doing at the races, but to work him at home, you'd really never have any idea what he's capable of."

Off The Radar is a winner of 10 races from his 62 starts and was bred by the late Dennis Offer. The pacer's former trainer Frank Offer handed training responsibilities to Caruana just over six months ago.

 

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura