Five year old gelding VERSETTO signalled he will be a force to be reckoned with over the Summer months in Queensland after a dominant barrier trial victory at the Sunshine Coast on Xmas Eve
The imposing son of Widden based stallion YOUR SONG was recently transferred to the Sunshine Coast stables of trainer Billy Healey from Bjorn Baker in Sydney .
His racing career has unfortunately been plagued by injury , firstly suffering a hairline fracture of his pelvis as an early three year old and a subsequent recurrence effectively forcing him to spend the majority of his four year old year on the sidelines.
VERSETTO returned after a long spell in early 2019 with a series of strong barrier trial performances , but a lack of suitable racing options saw him forced to step out in unsuitable races over sprint distances.
He put in an eye catching performance at Canterbury when storming home for fourth behind KAWAIKINI first up in August , before he was able to defeat the smart three year old PANDANO at Newcastle over 1200m in September.
Another fourth place effort at Hawkesbury behind TONYS REWARD was followed by a disappointing 10th behind BROKEN ARROWS at Kensington in October.
His final run in NSW saw him run 4th behind ALISON OF TUFFY at Kembla on Cox Plate Day .
A skin infection picked up after the Kembla run gave the owners further grief and the decision to move him north was rubber stamped .
“He just wasn’t measuring up to Sydney racing and the little niggles didn’t help his cause “ mused managing part owner Stuart Lang .
“When you are asking the ownership group to regularly stump up seven thousand dollars a month the horse needs to be paying its way.”
“He was impressive at Newcastle beating a nice horse in PANDANO but things just never fell our way after that”.
Selecting young Sunshine Coast trainer Billy Healey to take over the horse was an easy choice given the recent success the team have shared with the very talented GIN N BITTERS .
“We have had several horses with Billy now and we love the training environment he has set up at Glasshouse Mountain “ said Lang.
“He is able to take horses to work on course just up the road at Caloundra or utilise the nearby beaches”.
“ Our horses seem to really thrive in that kind of environment and we felt a horse like VERSETTO would be very well suited.,” added Lang.
On the back of this mornings trial , this theory appears to have been vindicated.
“We will see how he comes through the trial over the next couple of days but we have our eye on a nice kick off race for him over 1200m in the next couple of weeks” said Lang .
“On what he showed today , he would be competitive in anything we throw him into , “ concluded Lang.
