After 102 starts Run Baba Run will be chasing the biggest win of her career on Sunday night when she exits box one in the Listed Murray Bridge Cup (455m).
Brookfield owner/trainer/breeder Jeff Galea has certainly unlocked the key to longevity, with Run Baba Run’s mother, Little Pookie, having raced a remarkable 170 times, and he’s hoping his newest centurion is a long way from finished.
“Run Baba Run has earned $110,000 and hasn’t won a good race,” Galea said.
“I’m trying for 200 starts but I’m crossing the fingers and treating every run as her last.
“We don’t trial her at all, we just race her. She’s probably only trialled three times in her career. She doesn’t trial well anyway, so I don’t see the point.”
Run Baba Run ran fourth in the Group 1 National Futurity back in January 2020 at her 22nd start and 80 races and 14 months later she’ll make an overdue return to the feature race stage at Murray Bridge.
Galea admits he bowed to the wishes of his son, Ryan, who made the seven-hour expedition to South Australia last weekend, to target the Murray Bridge feature and the decision paid off when the daughter of Fernando Bale won her heat in 25.53sec, her 21st career victory.
While Run Baba Run was the ‘’slowest’ qualifier, after drawing ideally in box one, she’s a $6 chance with TAB.
“To be quite honest, I didn’t want to go over there but Ryan wanted to have a crack at it,” Galea explained.
“Ryan helps out a lot so I let him do what he wants – sometimes!
WATCH: Run Baba Run (3) scores a courageous Murray Bridge Cup heat win on March 5.
“Her heat run was really good. If you watch the replay properly, she hit the rail and the two ran up her backside and then she took off again.
“She’ll 100 per cent improve with the look at the track and box one is where she needs to be.
“She was about four lengths behind the fastest heat winner but I do expect her to go quicker this week.
“She wins her races with her early speed and she’ll definitely give them something to catch but she’s racing against dogs that know their way around there so it’s hard to be confident.”
Galea raised some eyebrows when he chose to breed with Run Baba Run’s mother, Little Pookie, but his judgement has been vindicated. In a big way.
“A lot of people wondered why I bred with her because she had so many starts and could only run 300m but every pup she’s had has won,” Galea said.
“Where are the experts now!
“Her first litter was to Sisco Rage, which was our dog. He could run 700m so we hoped he’d put some strength in the pups but they were all sprinters. The litter still won over $100,000.
“Then we went to Fernando Bale. The litter also includes Scatterbox (Australian Cup and Cranbourne Cup finalist). Any Luck was the best in the litter but he just cramped all the time. We’ve just sent him to Perth so hopefully he’ll win some races over there.”
Galea has given one of his secret weapons away; following the lead of many thoroughbred trainers into blood profiling.
“We bought a full blood profile machine about eight months ago and we blood test the dogs twice a week,” Galea offered.
“The dogs have all improved out of sight and the machine has well and truly paid for itself. Last year we earned about $250,000 in prizemoney.”
Run Baba Run is one of two Victorians contesting the Murray Bridge Cup, with multiple Group 1 finalist Weblec Ace, trained by Jeff Britton, a $4 chance from box three after running second in his heat.
