Michael Bellman allowed himself a clench of the fist as he crossed the line aboard She Will Wantano at Mount Gambier to chalk up the 2000th win of his career.

Sent out a $2.60 favorite, the Rebecca East prepared She Will Wantano was able to hold the lead from the pole and it was left to Bellman in completing the task with the eight-year-old mare holding a four metre margin on the post.

Bellman admitted he felt a sense of relief after the race.

“It was good to finally get it out of the way,” Bellman said.

“Coming here tonight I thought if I could hold the lead then she would be a good hope and that’s the way it turned out,” he said.

Bellman said he was glad to combine with East to achieve the milestone.

“Bec does a great job with her team and she along with Kev (Brough) have been a great support to me for the past 10 years,” he said.

The accomplished Bellman rates piloting Jazspur to victory in last year’s SA Trotters Cup as his biggest thrill in the sulky.

“It’s probably because I train her as well,” he said.

Bellman though readily recalls his favorite moment in the sulky for more than one reason.

“I drove my first winner at Terang in my fourth drive in a race with Little Partner who was trained my mother but it was also my Pop’s race (the Pat Bellman Memorial),” he said.

A third-generation member of the harness racing family, Bellman recalls his father Neville steering him into a trade on leaving school.

“Dad was pushing me to a diesel mechanic apprenticeship but at the time I was travelling to race meetings with Daryl Douglas and getting his caste off drives and getting the odd winner or two,” he said.

Bellman acknowledges his good fortune in earning a living in the sport he loves.

“I am very lucky because if you look at the list of drivers going around when I was starting out, I never thought that I would be able to stay in the system for so long,” he said.

The 44-year-old Bellman has two items left on his ‘bucket list’.

“I want to do two things before I’m finished - the first is to win a Group 1 and the second is to see Essendon win a grand final,” he said.

“I reckon the Group 1 is a better chance at this stage.”

Picture: Paul Campbell (Campbell's Comments)