Darren Sultana can’t believe his luck. For the third time in as many years, a potential straight track superstar has landed on his doorstep.
Back in February of 2022, a talent-laden dog named Mr. America landed in his kennel after 24 starts in Victoria. He went on to win 17 of his next 21 outings, he set the Richmond Straight track record of 17.11 and claimed the National Straight track championship final to boot.
In February of 2022, an emerging type named Shall Not arrived in NSW after 30 races in South Australia. He progressed to claim 34 of his next 42 starts, rattled off a 13-win streak, went within a whiskey of the aforementioned track record (17.12) and took out the Richmond Straight Cup decider.
So when James Hamilton, a Melbourne-based owner, gave Sultana a call a little over a month ago and said he had “a fast dog with a few small issues” that he thought would run well up the Richmond Straight, Sultana grabbed the collar and lead with both hands.
Already a winner of four straight starts in NSW, the red fawn son of Bernardo x Van Evie has improved out of sight since finding himself in the Sultana kennel.
“I’ve probably been pretty arsey getting three good straight dogs three years in a row but you take the good with the bad in this game,” Sultana said the morning after his charge produced a scintillating 17.17 win at Richmond.
“He trialled 17.70 in his first look up here, then he went 17.60 odd, then he won in 17.50, he went 17.30 last week and yesterday he ran great to go within a length of the track record. I don’t know if it’s going to be this guy, but a dog will break 17 second at Richmond one day. I’m sure of it.”
Bernardo Beast as a puppy
“We’re racing in the afternoons now so the ground is dry. The track is in great nick coming back into the warmer months and dogs are breaking records everywhere at the moment so I wouldn’t be surprised if a dog goes sub-17 sometime soon.”
The Western Sydney local loathe to compare his new acquisition to former straight track champions Mr. America and Shall Not despite the trio all following an eerily similar path into the winner’s circle at Richmond.
“Those two dogs did it over and over for months at a time. This guy has run some good races up here and he’s going in the right direction but he’s still working it out,” Sultana suggested.
“I think he wants the middle of the track to be honest and you only need to watch his two runs from Box 8 to see he’s not well boxed out wide. He crashed across and he knocked a few over in his first start up here but he still won and that’s a sign of a good dog.”
The run of consistent form arriving after an intriguing early period of Bernardo Beast’s career.
The James Hamilton-owned chaser going through numerous hands before landing with Sultana.
“The dog was bred by one of my really good friends, James Van De Maat, who is a race caller in Victoria. He was trained by Dan Gibbons at the start and when he won on debut in about seven lengths and ran 25.80 at Geelong, it was like “Wow, what have we got here”,” Hamilton said.
“Then he wasn’t exactly concentrating properly. He was still trialling really quick but he wasn’t racing in the same vein of form. We sent him to Steven White and he thought he was a group-level dog but he got done for marring.”
“Johnny Barbara had a go at working him out but we decided to send him to New Zealand. I booked him on a flight but it was the same time they stopped flying dogs over there so we had to call the whole thing off. I didn’t really know what to do with him but some mates, Andrew Paraskevas, said “why don’t we course him”.”
The tricky prospect excelling in the coursing caper over the Winter months and capping an undefeated season with victory in the prestigious Waterloo Cup.
Bernardo Beast with owner James Hamilton and trainer Andrew Paraskevas. Picture: courtesy of GRV
‘Barney’ was back and Hamilton had renewed hope he could make it on a race track.
“He just went nuts and loved coursing. He won the Longwood Cup as well and I think he won all 16 runs,” Hamilton added.
“He loves the drag so I started looking at options in Capalaba or Richmond. I’m Maltese and I knew Darren [Sultana] went well with Shall Not and Mr.America so I called him and told him I had a quick dog. I told him he’d had a few issues in the past but he was racing well in the coursing and Darren said “no worries, send him over”, and he’s going great.”
The four-win streak compiled so far at Richmond by Bernardo Beast also catching the eye of prospective buyers according to Hamilton.
“I’ve had a couple of calls with people interested in him but I love the dog and I would never sell him. I’ve gone through the lows and highs with him and he’s flying down the straight now so the plan is to keep him up there until the Richmond Straight Cup and maybe the Straight Of Origin,” he said.
“We will bring him back down here for another go at the Waterloo Cup next year and then he can back to Darren. He’s got such great traits, he’s like a bull and a lot of the trainers he’s been with have said he’s one of the most powerful, keenest runners they’ve had. His temperament is great too though and he’s quiet as a mouse. He finally seems to be putting it all together.”
