Bulletproofcoffee, Champion Bubbler, too much for Aftercare Trophy fields

UNITED STATES-BRED BULLETPROOFCOFFEE and CHAMPION BUBBLER, both course-specialists and overnight-allowance winners, should prove hard to beat in their respective divisions of Saturday’s Racehorse Aftercare Trophy feature.

BULLETPROOFCOFFEE’s four wins from 13 starts were all at five furlongs straight, most recent being September 6 in 58.2, hanging on by a neck to beat big outsider JOHNCROWJEFF and fellow American COMMANDER Z.

Franking that form a month later, BULLETPROOFCOFFEE, breaking from post-position two, was clearly second-best to GET A PEPSI, who clocked 58.3. Finishing third was three-year-old ANOTHER ONE, SUPER ALEX, fourth, and TEFLON DON, fifth.

GET A PEPSI, who had a favourable draw, stall seven, is no pushover. The six-year-old’s form can be traced back to his third-place run out the straight in July behind Gary Subratie’s pair of MONEY MARKET and SENSATIONAL MOVE after he had sprung a 17-1 upset on SUPREMASI to start the season in February.

Having beaten non-winners of an overnight allowance race two months ago, followed by her second-place run in 59.0 behind GET A PEPSI, BULLETPROOFCOFFEE represents class and speed among eight rivals, five of whom have never won at the level.

Outside of BULLETPROOFCOFFEE, Jason DaCosta’s CHOCOMO and TEFLON DON, along with NORBLAR, are the only other runners to have ever won an overnight-allowance event, putting them a bar above the field.

Unlike BULLETPROOFCOFFEE in division one, CHAMPION BUBBLER faces five overnight-allowance winners.

MINIATURE MAN, reporting off a near two-year lay-up, is among other overnight-allowance winners such as MAJOR DANGER, LABAN, ATLANTIC CONVOY and A GIFT FROM BEN.

However, CHAMPION BUBBLER is the only grade-one winner in the event, putting her a class above rivals. The six-year-old Tapiture mare started this season with a hat-trick of wins at five furlongs straight, skipping open allowance to complete the feat by landing the Reggae Trophy, beating fellow Americans PACK PLAYS, IS THAT A FACT, BOOTYLICIOUS, MAMMA MIA, and DIGITAL ONE.

Why is CHAMPION BUBBLER racing two classes lower than grade one where she won the Reggae Trophy in May, followed by a second-place run at the trip behind last year’s Mouttet Mile runner-up, LEGACY ISLE’s 57.2?

Having skipped open allowance to win the grade-one Reggae Trophy, the conditions book donned a blindfold, designating CHAMPION BUBBLER’s victory an ‘open-allowance race’, compensating for her jumping classes.

A trio of races later, competing in open-allowance races on the round course won by LEGACY ISLE, PACK PLAYS and MAMMA MIA, the conditions book dons its blindfold again, drawing on its six-month get-out-of-jail card, which frees CHAMPION BUBBLER to race among overnight-allowance runners, having last won an ‘open allowance’, the grade-one Reggae Trophy, in May.