Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
New Zealand-bred colt Smart Watch made a superb Australian debut with a runaway victory at Pinjarra on Monday, and he will face an acid test when he clashes with another outstanding New Zealand-bred three-year-old Street Hawk in the 2130m 7News Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Street Hawk, trained by Greg and Skye Bond and to be driven by Ryan Warwick, is unbeaten at five West Australian starts after winning at two of his six starts in New Zealand. He has won twice (at Pinjarra) after resuming from a brief spell.
Street Hawk will start out wide at barrier eight but has the ability to overcome that disadvantage. He began from barrier seven and he surged to the front after 400m, set a fast pace and was not extended in winning from stablemates Jett Star and Unconditional over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday of last week when he sped over the final 400m in 26.3sec.
Smart Watch, trained by Gary Hall Snr and having his first start for almost ten months, began from the outside barrier (No. 9) at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening when he settled in the one-out, two-back position before Gary Hall Jnr sent him forward, three wide, after 450m. He then took then lead after a lap and dashed over the final 800m in 56.5sec. to win by four and a half lengths from Mancave, rating 1.57.7 over 2130m.
“He is sure to be improved by the run,” said Hall Jnr. “And I’ll be anxious to keep in front of Street Hawk.”
The Hall stable also has good winning prospects with High Price in the 7Mate Pace and Finvarra in the Group 3 Telethon The Kersley Pace in which the speedy four-year-old will be making his first appearance for four months.
“Finvarra probably needs the run but can still win,” said Hall Jnr. Finvarra, a winner at eight of his 16 starts, will begin from the No. 5 barrier in the 2130m event in which the four runners drawn inside of him possess good gate speed. Polemarker Power And Grace, Bettor Get It On (barrier two), Dont Bother Me None (three) and Mr Fantastic (four) all excel as frontrunners.
Three-year-old High Price is the youngest and least experienced runner in the 2536m 7Mate Pace in which he will start from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line. He warmed up for the race with a solid effort over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon.
He began from the outside of the front line (barrier seven) and after racing three wide for the first 300m he enjoyed an ideal passage in the one-out, one-back position before taking a narrow lead 100m from the post and being beaten a head by El Casanova, who after trailing the pacemaker Ardens Horizon, finished fast along the sprint lane.