The long drive from Toolleen to Broken Hill paid off handsomely for Daniel Pell on Sunday night when Group 1 placegetter Red Reactor was a record-breaking winner of the Million Dollar Chase Regional Final (525m).
Pell travelled solo to Broken Hill, leaving home at 9am Sunday on the 16-hour round trip and arriving back at 6am on Monday, and the expedition proved to be well worth the effort.
Red Reactor, a March ’20 son of Fernando Bale and Subconscious, bred and raced by Pell and his mother Bev, gave the family their first track record holder as he booked his berth in the semi-finals of the second MDC event to be held in 2022.
Red Reactor put the writing on the wall one week earlier, winning his heat in 30.31sec, just half a length outside the 30.27sec course record, and he started $1.90 favourite from Box 3 in the $7000 to-the-winner final.
Red Reactor quickly found the front and always looked the winner, despite $2.80 second elect Teddy The Bear closing the margin to three-quarters of a length, in a new course record of 30.23sec.
“He didn’t trial there, but he’s handled strange tracks well before and if he was able to qualify, he would get a look that way,” Pell explained.
“I thought he could go close to the record, considering he had to work a bit the week before and that he’d had a look at the track.
“When I was looking at the MDC, the easiest way to qualify was through the regional heats. It’s super tough to go through the Wentworth Park qualifiers, you’ve got to go up there and win three weeks in a row.
“The three options were Temora, Wagga and Broken Hill. Plaintiff won at Temora, so we pulled the right straw not going there, and Broken Hill looked like being the easiest option and it worked out that way.
“I daresay some of the big Melbourne dogs would have broken the record too, if they’d gone to Broken Hill, but Red Reactor went there, and did it and that can’t be taken away from him!”
It’s now all systems go to the MDC semi-finals on Friday week (September 16) at Wentworth Park, where Red Reactor has had two starts, winning a heat of the G1 Vic Peters Classic in July in 30.21sec and then running a close third in the final, beaten only three-quarters of a length by Gatlin.
“It’s a big thrill,” Pell said.
“He’s raced well at Wentworth Park – he was charging home in the Vic Peters – so he knows the place.
“There will be a heap of dogs that are better than him, but hopefully we can avoid some of them, draw a decent box and get a clear run. You’ve got to be in it to win it and he’s in it!”
Red Reactor’s litter sister Let It Rain added a punctuation mark to his record-breaking performance, winning the following race to complete the family’s second double for the weekend after the topically named Long Haul and Willpower saluted at Bendigo on Saturday.
The Pells have enjoyed a wonderful run with Red Reactor’s litter, which also features their first ever Group victor Love The City, winner of the G3 Country Championship at The Meadows on Australian Cup night.
Another sibling in Flight Risk also qualified for the Vic Peters Classic final, but Pell rates Red Reactor as the clear number one seed.
“We’ve not had one like him before,” Pell said proudly.
“If you wanted to be technical about it, his sister (Love The City) won the G3 race at The Meadows, but he’s won at The Meadows and Sandown, he’s got a track record now and he’s made three Group races.
“He’s no Wow She’s Fast or She’s A Pearl, but we bred him and own him and he’s just a ripper.”
Other Victorians to qualify for the MDC semis via the regional series are Plaintiff and Kelsey Bale, which finished first and third in the Temora decider.
