THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - PREMIERSHIP JUST A STEPPING STONE FOR TIM BELL

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 3, 2014

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

The grinding intensity of the racing schedule never ceases.

We might have turned the calendar page to welcome in the start of a new season on August 1 but there was hardly time to stop and take a breath as the daily action continued unabated with the routine of trainers and riders not missing a beat.

Even those who had reason to celebrate were stretched to find the time to do so.

Most premiership winners will tell you that accolade comes as a bonus on the back of a having a good season. It is seldom set as an absolute goal at the start of the campaign.

Tony Gollan who won the Brisbane Trainer’s Premiership had a Group 1 win for Spirit Of Boom at the top of his wish list for last season.

He got that … and more with the Premiership.

Matthew Dunn, who finished second to Gollan, would have been happy with a top ten finish in town. His season, which included no less than 103 winners overall, exceeded his own expectations.

But Tim Bell was more single minded. He stated his intention to win the Brisbane Jockey’s Premiership early in the season.

While few doubted his riding prowess to do so, many questioned whether the timing was right for Bell to get to the top. Perhaps next season, they said, and when Bell trailed defending champion Michael Cahill by a significant margin entering the last quarter of the season, that view became more prominent.

But Bell never stopped riding hard … and when Cahill began to falter in front, through a bad run of outs and an equally untimely suspension, Bell started to reel in the leader.

With Bell closing in Cahill fought back with an unanswered double in midweek, before Bell cancelled out that effort in the very next meeting.

Then Bell drew level … then he edged ahead in the final stages before cementing a significant personal victory with a defining win in the opening race on the card at the last meeting of the season.

Mission accomplished.

So much of the Bell publicity in recent months has been focussed on his Premiership battle that it has almost been forgotten that Bell also landed his first Group 1 success last season aboard the Rex Lipp trained Tinto.

So the young rider and his ever supportive family have plenty of which to be proud.

Bell certainly has proved he is a double-barrelled force in that he has both ambition and the talent to back that ambition. Defending his Premiership and more Group 1 victories will certainly be in his sights, but it will be interesting to see how long Brisbane can hold on to such a talent, given the opportunities that will beckon the young man.

For now though, Bell is the top rider in Brisbane and, if he can make time to take that in, that professional game-face he carries might just have a semblance of a satisfied smile on it as he reflects on his achievement and looks to the future.

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