Odds Stacking Up For Carl

Whilst enjoying a steady stream of success, Chris Carl is hardly endearing himself to punters.

At headquarters last Saturday night, Fast Car Driving, trained by Jeff Britton for Carl, stormed away with the first of the Golden Easter Egg heats at odds upwards of 40/1, while on Wednesday night, his progressive youngster Boxcar Bella charged home along the rails to land her New Sensation heat, this time at odds of 50/1.

"I'm filthy at myself for not having a bet, on either of them," lamented Carl on Thursday.

"It's easy to sound like a genius after the race but I should have had something on Fast Car Saturday – you know he's got the ability and realistically he was probably a 1 in 4 chance of getting the start right and leading. So you're getting 40/1 to find out!"

It was a similar tale on Wednesday night for Carl when Boxcar Bella was a last stride winner of her New Sensation heat in a moderate 30.41. The time-standard for the series was set by Nangar Diva, running a spectacular 29.55.

"She's got a stack of ability Boxcar but she is just dumb, it's as simple as that," said a blunt Carl.

"She broke in at Mannings down in Victoria in a time they tell me pups just don't run but everything she does is the opposite of what you want. She's always standing up, forever knocking her water bucket over, when you get her out of the kennel her heart's thumping 100 miles an hour. Just things like that. She behaves like a 300 yard dog but races like a stayer – I doubt she's got the temperament to get further but she is getting better, slowly."

Winner at four of her 20 starts, Boxcar Bella is a daughter of Bella Infrared and Wuxi, the dam a sister to Opus Forte, owned by Carl and trained by Luke Azzopardi to 19 victories, the majority of those in sub-30 at Wentworth Park with a personal best of 29.41.

"She's got a litter to Sh Avatar and is due to whelp to Mepunga Blazer soon," added Carl.

And in assessing Fast Car Driving's Golden Easter Egg semi-final claims this Saturday night Carl was straight to the point.

"I'm resigned to the fact he'll find it tough from box seven but you can't win it sitting at home," he declared.

"He's drawn the hardest semi and box seven, I've found he generally races better from even draws as he doesn't like being in the boxes that long. He'll miss it away more often than not from odd boxes.”