Barry makes the long wait worthwhile

“THAT was an impressive win. He only had to do everything right!”

That was trainer-driver Anthony Varga’s post-race assessment of the win by Barry’s Brother on debut at Tamworth.

Varga trains the three-year-old Caribbean Blaster-Scoot On La Belle gelding for his father John.

With 15 trials before making it to the Paceway for his first race start, Varga revealed that Barry’s Brother had been quite the “handful” leading up to his first race appearance.

“The win first-up has been so rewarding,” said Varga.

“This horse has been such a handful for us and we have to thank Ernie Mabbott for his help with the horse as he would not pace at all early in his career.”

The dam, Scoot On La Belle, produced progeny who have all succeeded on the track: Secret Squirrel – 21 race wins; Secret Jack – 24 race wins; Always A Secret – 11 race wins and Prince of Payne one win.

“It is Mitrhys Magic – a winner of 15 races for the Varga family – that takes the credit.

“Our stable name for Mitrhys Magic was Barry, so Dad decided to call his half-brother Barry’s Brother,” said Varga.

“His stable name is actually Wally.”

So, it looks as if ‘Wally’ has the makings to follow in the family footsteps.

“He needs a bit more time to mature – his brothers took until they were around five-years-old,” said Varga.

From the eight barrier draw, Varga was happy to race Barry’s Brother three back on the outside.

“He is always a bit “iffy” on the first turn but basically when we got around to the back straight, I was happy to hold onto him and make a race move at the right time,” said Varga.

The “right time” for Varga and Barry’s Brother was as the bell sounded to herald the last lap.

Travelling around the field Barry’s Brother levelled up to race leader Manic Mia, trained at Tamworth by Russell Murry and driven by Jemma Coney.

“I was happy to ease back and sit outside the leader,” said Varga.

“We knew the horse was tough – even when we were breaking him in.

“He has speed when he needs but it did not faze him to go a lap from home.

“I pulled the ear plugs at the 400m and the horse basically did it all by himself from there.”

Barry’s Brother scored by 4.8m from Kimchi (Brad Elder) with the $2.10 favourite Manic Mia 2.3m away third.

It was also a tidy mile rate of 1.59.8 for 1609 metres with Barry’s Brother paying $6.50 for the win.

Anthony Varga had nine driving engagements on the nine-race card at Tamworth last week, including three from his own stables where Mac Stubborn secured a third placing.

“I was pretty exhausted by the end of the meeting – I haven’t had a full book of drives for a while so it was a couple of beers to celebrate the win and early to bed for me,” said Varga.

“It was good to train and drive a winner in the first race but it looks like that’s where I used up all my luck for the rest of the day.”

  – JULIE MAUGHAN

KEEN SPECTATORS:
Barry’s Brother, John Varga and grandson Blaze Varga, son of Anthony, watching the horse parade. (Picture courtesy of Denna Burns).