He better be the best

14 September 2022

THE 2022 Gold Crown heat winner and finalist Better Be The Best will chase another feature race win at Bathurst tonight when he contests the Western District heat of the New South Wales Breeders Challenge for two-year-old colts and geldings.

From day one, Better Be The Best has impressed his trainer Nathan Turnbull with his incredible speed and stamina and the son of Shoobees Place has won three of his five race starts to date.

“He is a really nice horse with a massive motor,” said Turnbull.

“I have driven some handy young horses in my time and this guy would be right up there with the best of them.

“His point-to-point speed and the way he can leave the mobile so cleanly are both strong attributes he possesses, and he also has plenty of bottom, which I feel will take him a long way.

“I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.

“He is only a lightly-raced two-year-old, but he does have some ‘x-factor’ about him.”

Quoted as a short-priced favourite in tonight’s race, Turnbull is a little weary of his backline barrier 11 draw and also the fact that there are some classy horses that have drawn better than his charge.

“My bloke beat a similar field last week, but he did it racing from the front end,” said Turnbull.

“I have not yet worked out a perfect game plan for how to drive him.

“You can never take anything for granted in two-year-old races.

“It’s more likely that he will have to do some work at some stage to get into the race tonight, but I am confident that he is up to the challenge.”

Turnbull has taken up where he left off from a successful 2021 as he currently sits on 71 wins as a trainer for the current term, eclipsing his season best tally of 57 with more than three months remaining.

“I guess you can put that success down to us placing our horses where they have been competitive, which has given them the best chance of winning,” he said.

“It is pretty well known that I run my stable like that.

“We are prepared to travel to all the tracks out this way, but if we have one good enough, we will take them to town.”