It will be a family affair when Melbourne Cup-winner Mark Delbridge takes strength in numbers into Saturday night’s semi-finals of the lucrative Country Classic (605m) at Dubbo.
Delbridge and wife Lisa have three runners in the four semis – siblings Valor Bale (semi 1, box 4), Zoha Bale (semi 2, box 1) and Ailee Bale (semi 4, box 8) – chasing a berth in Saturday week’s $125,000 to-the-winner final, the world’s richest middle distance event.
The Dubbo-bound trio are Allen Deed x Sammy Allen littermates to Melbourne Cup hero Yachi Bale.
‘Team Delbridge’ qualified Jarick Bale for the inaugural Country Classic Final in 2022; however the triple Group 1 winner finished eighth.
Jarick Bale returned for another tilt at the Classic and was the ‘number one seed’ from the Delbridges’ four runners in heats held across NSW regional tracks last week, but was the only one not to qualify for the semis.
Jarick Bale contested the Dapto heat last Thursday but was out of play after falling; fortunately emerging unscathed.
The following night at Richmond, Valor Bale eased that Dapto disappointment with a dominant front-running exhibition, trouncing favourite Zipping Orlando by 5.25 lengths in 35.37sec, only three lengths off the 622m course record.
It was Valor Bale’s fourth win from his past five starts.
Then at Dubbo on Saturday night, Ailee Bale, third in the G2 Launceston Cup last month and a G2 Sandown Laurels finalist, scored in 34.61sec, with Zoha Bale rattling home to complete a Delbridge quinella.
“We decided to take Valor Bale to Richmond because if he missed the start, he had another 20m to pick them up, but he didn’t need it,” Mark Delbridge said.
“Usually he plays up in the boxes and goes up with the lids or misses the kick, but because the lure was so quiet at Richmond, he didn’t put a foot wrong and came out running.
“Once he led, he wasn’t going to get beaten.
“The box draw at Dubbo didn’t do us any favours, getting five (Ailee Bale) and eight (Zoha Bale).
“But Ailee Bale got out good and pushed her way through. She got a little bit tired, and Zoha Bale made up a heap of ground to run second. Shayne Stiff (Dubbo President) said the run of ‘the pink’ was enormous.”
The three Delbridge contenders are all prominent in Sportsbet’s markets on their respective semi-finals – Valor Bale $4, Zoha Bale $4.80, and Ailee Bale $3.20F – with Mark leaning to Valor Bale as their best chance, with one proviso.
“It depends how Valor Bale comes out,” Delbridge said.
“I’m not sure what he’ll do at Dubbo, because the lure is really loud. Hopefully, he’s learned from last week at Richmond and comes out again.
“Zoha Bale and Ailee Bale had a look at Dubbo last week, but if Valor Bale begins, he’s probably our best chance.
“Zoha Bale has drawn ‘the red’, so he should be closer this week, but I think he’s in the hardest semi, and I’m not sure if Ailee Bale will be able to get across off ‘the pink’.”
There’s also a family flavour to Victoria’s other two semi-finalists, Glenn Dainton’s littermates Dookie Devil (semi 3, box 8) and Jackpot Joan (semi 2, box 8), which ran first and second in the Temora heat.
Dookie Devil, which claimed his fifth win from his last six starts, highlighted by the G1 Rooke Rebel, when storming home to win the Temora run-off, is $3 favourite in his semi-final, while Jackpot Joan, a G2 Laurels placegetter, is an $8 chance.
Click HERE for Sportsbet’s Country Classic semi-final markets
