Retired school teacher Danny Kotel couldn’t have asked for a better initiation to racehorse ownership and his winning tally could well grow by one at Bathurst on Monday.
Kotel is the sole owner of the promising Molasses who will start one of the favourites in the Schweppes Class 2 (1300m).
Molasses is the second racehorse Kotel has owned after taking a share in Wordly Wise.
“Wordly Wise has won five or six races and will start at Dubbo next week and Molasses has already won one and finished second from three starts,” their trainer Dennis Bush said.
“I expect Molasses to be hard to beat especially in the small field. My only slight concern is the 1300 metres.”
Molasses, who was already named before Kotel purchased him, is from the mare Rum Cruise hence his name.
“All the siblings are also named after something to do with rum. I have had him for a bit over 12 months and he always showed a fair bit of ability,” Bush added.
“He had knee problems which required surgery to repair. The nearside was the worst but since the operation he has been fine.
“That is the reason he only started racing late last year.”
Molasses won on debut at Orange and last start chased home the talented Zakynthos Regrets when second at Leeton.
“He beat the rest easily last start but the winner was just too good,” Bush said.
Bush only trains a small team at Forbes but his pastime takes up many hours as he often floats his horses the 180 kilometres round trip to Cowra.
Leading jockey Matthew Cahill rides Molasses in his fast gallops and will ride the gelding for the fourth consecutive time on Monday.
There are eight races at Bathurst with the track rated a Good 4.
View the fields and form for Bathurst's Monday meeting here.