Bartolo youngster full of ‘Promise’

[Wandering Eyes]

How do you follow up a 26.75 length maiden victory?

That question will be answered when Paul Bartolo’s exciting youngster Make No Promise contests the opening event at The Meadows on Saturday night.

After being soundly beaten at his first two starts at The Meadows, once by litter sister and kennelmate Magic Muffin, Make No Promise opened his account in stunning fashion at Sandown Park on December 11, putting up a staggering margin in a flying 29.33sec.

“He can really run, but I think the others lost sight of the lure at Sandown,” Paul Bartolo offered modestly.

“The time didn’t surprise me because he went 29.60sec at his first look there and that was about six weeks earlier.

“Never Be Alone will lead Make No Promise but if he gets behind her, he’ll run straight past her.”

“He should only keep improving too because nine weeks ago he was out in the paddock. He’s still got his winter coat – he looks horrible!

“He got into heaps of trouble at his first two starts. He does a left-hand turn when he comes out, but at Sandown he went straight from box eight, so he’s learning.”

Bartolo appears to have a stranglehold on race 1 on Saturday at 5.53pm, with Make No Promise (box 3) joined by litter sister Never Be Alone (box 6), which also broke her maiden at Sandown last start, the race following her brother’s stunning breakthrough.

Never Be Alone scored by a more modest 8.7 lengths, with her all-the-way 29.70sec success highlighted by a scintillating 4.99sec first section, just over one length outside her sire Fernando Bale’s split record.

WATCH: MAKE NO PROMISE (B8) won his maiden at Sandown Park on December 11 in astonishing fashion, scoring by a gobsmacking 26.75 lengths in a scorching 29.33sec at his third start.

The siblings dominate Sportsbet’s market, with Make No Promise $2.15 and Never Be Alone $2.50; however Bartolo has a clear top pick.

“Never Be Alone is lightning early but she’s a bit weak,” he said.

“She’s had five starts and led all of them. She’ll lead Make No Promise but if he gets behind her, he’ll run straight past her, if he doesn’t get into any trouble.”

While Make No Promise doesn’t hail from Paul and Diane Bartolos’ potent ‘Leprechaun’ dam-line that famously produced the 2006 Melbourne Cup quinella courtesy of champion Betty’s Angel and sister Miss Mini Mouse, he’s bred in the purple.

He’s a son of champion Fernando Bale, while his mother, Veloso, is a daughter of the great Brett Lee and Tricky Shelley, a Group 1 winner in New Zealand and a daughter of another superstar of the sport in Paua To Burn.

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The litter was bred and is raced by the Bartolos’ son Ray, Manager at Geelong GRC, and Chris Earl, who are overdue for a change of fortune with the progeny of Veloso.

“Her first litter, to Aston Dee Bee, included a dog called Thursday Knight that ran 29.63sec at The Meadows at his second start and looked like he could have been anything,” Bartolo explained.

“But he collapsed in the catching pen and eventually we found out he had an oxygen problem. He’d be fine after 30 seconds, but it happened twice, so we retired him.

“Then in the Fernando Bale litter, there was a dog that broke in six lengths quicker than Make No Promise, but he got bitten by a snake and we lost him. Ray was devastated.

“I do like Make No Promise, and I think the other sister, Magic Muffin, is as good as him, but I don’t get too carried away with young dogs. I think they need 20 starts before you really know how good they are.”

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