Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Sixteen-year-old Chris Lewis won with his first drive in a race when Classic Air was successful in Adelaide more than 50 years ago, and now the champion reinsman retains a fierce competitive spirit and continues to excel in the sulky.
“I never tire of driving winners; it’s much better than losing,” was his succinct comment when assessing his prospects with Lavra Joe in the $200,000 Retravision Golden Nugget at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Lavra Joe, prepared at Greenbushes by Ray Jones, has won at 28 of his 51 starts and has drawn the No. 4 barrier on the front line in the prestigious group 1 feature event.
“Barrier four is certainly better than barrier nine,” said Lewis. “And he is one of the major players, absolutely. Regarding tactics, we will have to see how the race unfolds. His latest run was excellent. He was the only one coming wide.”
Lavra Joe started from barrier six in the 1730m Village Kid Sprint last Friday night when he was restrained at the start and settled down in eleventh position. He was still at the rear at the bell before he followed the three-wide run of Ideal Agent in the last lap and fought on tenaciously to finish fourth behind Magnificent Storm.
A week earlier Lavra Joe was an unlucky fifth behind Pinny Tiger in the group 1 Four-Year-Old Classic when he lost valuable ground in the final lap when he twice locked wheels with Tenzing Bromac. Two weeks before that Lavra Joe made most of the running when he won the group 2 Four-Year-Old Championship, beating Jumpingjackmac and Mighty Ronaldo.
Lewis has driven 137 winners this season, and is in top form, having landed a double at all four meetings at which he has competed (in the space of eight days at the start of December).
Lewis also is the leading driver in the 41-year-history of the Golden Nugget, having been successful with Vero Prince (1987), Flashing Star (1994), Saab (1998) and Dasher VC (2010).
Champion trainer Gary Hall Snr has won the Golden Nugget with The Gold Ace in 2011 and Beaudiene Boaz in 2015, and he hold s a strong hand in Friday night’s event, with Finvarra drawing the prized No. 1 barrier and Jumpingjackmac starting from the No. 6 barrier.
Finvarra, who will be starting from the No. 1 barrier for the first time in his 22-start career of 11 wins and eight placings, will be handled by Maddison Brown, while Aiden De Campo has been engaged to drive Jumpingjackmac, who is racing with great heart and has finished strongly to be placed at his past three starts, all in group feature events, twice behind Lavra Joe and once behind Pinny Tiger.
Finvarra has led and won only once, and that was when he began from barrier three and easily beat Arma Einstein in May this year. He started from barrier eight and raced in tenth position before finishing strongly out wide to be eighth behind Pinny Tiger in the Four-Year-Old Classic.
Star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr has stuck with the Justin Prentice-trained Mighty Ronaldo, who is handily drawn at barrier three. Mighty Ronaldo, whose nine wins include the Golden Slipper as a two-year-old and the WA Derby last year, was a last-start sixth behind Pinny Tiger.
Mighty Ronaldo, placed once from four starts in his current campaign, was ninth in the middle stages and started a three-wide move (following Jumpingjackmac) at the 1200m. He was third approaching the home turn when Hall admitted he made a mistake.
“I made a blue approaching the home turn when I saw Pinny Tiger trying to get off (the pegs),” said Hall. “I grabbed hold of Mighty Ronaldo to try to keep Pinny Tiger locked up, and this took all the momentum out of Mighty Ronaldo, who didn’t know what was going on because it was an unusual time to grab hold.
“Mighty Ronaldo didn’t get going after that. His run might have looked a bit ordinary, but I think he would have finished a lot closer if I hadn’t taken hold of him. He wouldn’t have beaten Pinny Tiger, but he probably would’ve finished somewhere with Jumpingjackmac (who ran second). It was a bad move.
“I drove Mighty Ronaldo at Justin’s track last Friday, and he went quite good. We will probably press forward at the start, and I assume that we will either be in front or racing one-out, one-back behind Lavra Joe. It depends on what Finvarra does. Either way, either position would be a good spot to be in.”
The Katja Warwick-trained Machnificent ran a splendid trial for this week’s race when he started out wide at barrier nine, was eleventh at the bell and then caught the eye by charging home, out seven wide, to finish third behind Pinny Tiger.
Machnificent is not favourably drawn on the outside of the back line. But he is capable of unwinding a brilliant late burst and certainly has the ability to cause an upset.
Trainer-driver Jocelyn Young is hoping that The Amber Hare, the only mare in the event, can beat the horses and geldings and become the third mare to win the Golden Nugget after Countess Kala (1999) and Libertybelle Midfrew (2014).
The Amber Hare has won at ten of her 21 starts and is favourably drawn at barrier two. “I was happy with her latest run (when held up for a clear run when ninth behind Pinny Tiger),” she said. “Maybe we will be one-out, two-back, and then, hopefully, she will run over the top of them.”
The Ray Williams-trained Ezana, who was a smart all-the-way winner last Friday night, will start from the inside of the back line, with reinsman Aldo Cortopassi saying: “It’s a great draw, and Finvarra is a nice horse to be following. I reckon Finvarra will go close to holding up, and if we are good enough, we’ll be able to get a crack at them. At worst, Ezana will be three back on the pegs. The barriers have made the race fairly even.”
Leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond, who won the 2018 Golden Nugget with Ana Malak, will be pinning their hopes on Himself (barrier five) and Tenzing Bromac (barrier two on the back line).
Himself (Dylan Egerton-Green) notched his tenth win from 22 starts when he began from the 20m mark and scored an effortless victory over 2503m last Friday night. Tenzing Bromac won for the twelfth time from 17 starts when he raced in the breeze and beat the fast-finishing Fifty Five Reborn over 1730m last week.
Tenzing Bromac will again be handled by star reinsman Ryan Warwick, who has won the Golden Nugget twice, with Gee Whiz Fizz in 2005 and Ana Malak in 2018.
Pinny Tiger, to be driven by Trent Wheeler for trainer Michael Brennan, faces a stern test from out wide at barrier seven, but he cannot be underestimated. Wide draws are sure to make life tough for the in-form pair of Eldaytona (barrier eight) and El Chema (barrier nine).