Beleva is pictured here winning at Moonee Valley in April 2009.
Less than a month ago it had been well over two years since gifted squaregaiter Beleva had graced the track on raceday.
And it’s not lost on anyone in the industry what a timely return he has made; the gelding was originally trained by the late Ian McCallum and connections had a great run of success with the son of Maori’s Idol.
Part-owned by McCallum and long-time trotting owner Evan Savage, the pair had plenty of fun winning races like the Tontine final and Mildura Trotters Cup over the journey.
Now family friend Barry Beasley has taken over the training duties of the effervescent 10-year-old but that opportunity only came around by chance.
“I’m friends with Evan Savage who is a part owner of him and I also had an association with Ian McCallum for 30 years or more,” Beasley said.
“The horse was down my way spelling in a paddock and I used to trim his feet up. I just happened to say one day ‘if you don’t do something with this horse he will flounder and die’ he was that fat.
“We just started jogging the condition off him and he started to work up alright, so we took him to the trials and he trialled okay. Eventually we just ended up where we are today.”
The journey which has seen Beleva return to the track certainly hasn’t been an easy road. Two trials in March, then a further two in May show the incredible patience in his quest for a comeback.
His initial run was satisfactory without being brilliant, but with that under his belt he was a closing fourth in the heat for this weekend’s Winter Trotters Cup Final and you couldn’t wipe the smile off Beasley’s face.
“He was really good in the heat. We were very, very happy with him actually; he probably surprised us a little bit just how well he went,” he said.
“In saying that, he had worked well at home so we were just ecstatic considering the circumstances of the week and the lead up to the race. If he could win the final though it would just be out of this world, it would be fate.”
No doubt a win in the memory of Ian McCallum would prove that fairytales in sport do come true.
And it has all the makings of an unlikely triumph with
TAB fixed odds opening Beleva at $51 for the contest in which he will start with a 10-metre handicap.
“Realistically we are chasing around very good trotters so it does make it tough. Our guy is a very good stand-start horse and he did prove last week he is still up with them so we will go in hopeful,” Beasley said.
“We haven’t looked beyond Friday night yet, he’s off a pretty tough mark now and he’s more of a week by week proposition but we couldn’t be happier with him.”
