Bartolo back in Cup Frame

Everlasting memories of a glorious home-bred quinella with champion Betty’s Angel and litter sister Miss Mini Mouse in 2006 ensure the Group 1 Sportsbet Melbourne Cup is always a very special time of year for Paul Bartolo.

“It seems like yesterday!” Bartolo reflected.

While he only has four greyhounds in work, Little River-based Bartolo incredibly boasts three runners in Saturday night’s Cup heats at Sandown Park and he’s daring to dream of a second victory in the great race, 17 years on.

Bartolo’s heat trio are Storm Stroller (heat 1, box 7), Make No Promise (heat 2, box 1) and Magic Muffin (heat 8, box 2).

Storm Stroller (Fernando Bale x Leprechaun Storm) hails from Paul and wife Diane’s potent ‘Leprechaun’ line that produced Cup heroine Betty’s Angel, while littermates Make No Promise and Magic Muffin (Fernando Bale x Veloso), bred by the Bartolos’ son Ray, descend from the immortal Paua To Burn.

The heat draw was favourable to siblings Make No Promise and Magic Muffin, and Bartolo rates the former as not only his best chance on Saturday, but the strongest Cup contender he’s had since Betty’s Angel.

Make No Promise heads into the heats having won his past two at Sandown, clocking 29.41sec and 29.54sec.

He’ll be striving to play giant-killer and deny the great Wow She’s Fast (box 2) a berth in the Cup final, with Sportsbet marking Make No Promise the $3.80 second elect behind his superstar rival at $2.10.

“I give him a really good chance, to be honest,” Bartolo said.

“He’s only had ‘the red’ twice and he’s won both times.

“He’s a very nice dog. He lacks the early pace, but he’s a good chaser and he’s very strong. Eventually he’ll get up to 600m.”

In contrast to her brother, Magic Muffin hasn’t won since April 29, a losing streak of 12 starts, although she’s finished runner-up in half those runs, including when beaten less than a length in the G1 Maturity Classic.

Despite that run of outs, Magic Muffin is vying for favouritism in the final heat.

Magic Muffin is $3.40, with Transponder (box 3), runaway winner of the G1 Topgun from the same draw on the opening night of the Dream Chasers carnival, $3.20 favourite, and Shootout runner-up Hector Fawley (box 8) at $5.

“Magic Muffin is just as good as Make No Promise,” Bartolo said.

“She’s a chance too. She’ll rail underneath Transponder, but if Transponder jumps like he did in the Topgun I don’t think she can catch him.”