Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
The combination of trainer Justin Prentice and reinsman Gary Hall Jnr has proved to be a formidable force in major feature events in recent years, and Never Ending is poised to give harness racing’s glamour combatants another Group 1 success in the $215,000 Allwood Stud Farm Westbred Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Never Ending is the only unbeaten runner in the 2130m event in which he has earned favouritism after drawing the prized No. 1 barrier.
Hall had the choice of driving Prentice’s other runner, the brilliant Valedictorian, a winner at five of his eight starts. But when Never Ending drew barrier one, and Valedictorian drew the outside (barrier three) on the back line, Hall did not hesitate in choosing to handle Never Ending.
Never Ending has scored decisive victories at his four starts, the most recent being three Fridays ago when he started from barrier three, burst to the front after 400m, set a brisk pace and sprinted over the final 400m sections in 28.4sec. and 27.9sec. to win by one and a half lengths from Valedictorian, who put in a superb performance after racing three wide for the first 400m and then in the breeze.
Valedictorian, who is raced by the Trotsynd No. 20 syndicate, will be driven by Stuart McDonald.
“Drawing barrier one made my decision easy,” said Hall. “He is pretty smart and should be able to lead. He has been great in his short career.”
Hall has plenty of respect for Valedictorian, and despite his back-line draw he should prove the hardest for Never Ending to beat.
Skylord, trained and driven by Jocelyn Young, gave a splendid performance in winning a prelude of the Westbred Classic on Tuesday of last week when he was eighth in the middle stages and sustained a three-wide burst approaching the bell to surge to the front in the final 70m to win by more than a length from Lord Titanium, with final quarters of 28.7sec. and 28.4sec.
Skylord is awkwardly drawn at barrier seven but has the ability to overcome this disadvantage and figure in the finish.
Crowd Control raced in the breeze on the outside of Lord Titanium, but just battled on to finish third, two lengths behind the winner. The gelding, trained by Kim Prentice and to be driven by Mitch Miller, will start from barrier from barrier two on the back line.
“I was very disappointed with his heat run,” said Miller. “He travelled like the winner and then when I asked him to go at the top of the straight there was nothing there. We found a few little issues, and whether we have been able to rectify them quickly enough, I’m not too sure. However, his work on Monday was a lot better than it was going into the heat.”
Major Overs, trained by Debra Lewis and to be driven by Chris Lewis, is favourably drawn at barrier No. 2, and should be prominent following his effort in fighting on from seventh at the bell to finish fourth behind Valedictorian in a prelude on Tuesday of last week.
“It’s a class field, and we’re probably looking at the top four or five,” said Lewis. “Major Overs has the ability but is not quite there at the minute.”
Rockokoko, trained by Bryan Cousins, earned a start in Friday night’s classic by finishing strongly with a three-wide burst from eighth at the bell to be third behind Im The Black Flash last Friday night. But he faces a tough assignment from the No. 5 barrier. “He’s going terrific and will run an honest race,” said reinsman Chris Voak.