Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Star Lavra, a $130,000 purchase at the 2021 APG Perth yearling sale, gave a glimpse of his potential at his third appearance in a race when he broke through for his first win at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The burly Captaintreacherous colt, trained by Gary Hall Snr and driven by Stuart McDonald, was the $3.70 second favourite in the field of six when he began smartly from the No. 1 barrier and after a slow lead time of 38.7sec. and ambling opening quarter of 32.1sec. he increased the tempo with quarters of 29.8sec., 28.5sec. and 27.6sec. to win by 2m from stablemate Hes Never Been Beta ($7.50), with another stablemate and $1.60 favourite Im The Black Flash two lengths farther back in third place.
The Hall stable’s fourth runner Franco Mecca ($34) finished fourth behind Star Lavra, who rated 1.58.4 over the 2130m journey.
Hes Never Been Beta did a good job to finish second after racing without cover over the final 1200m. Im The Black Flash, a winner at three of his six starts, began from the No. 5 barrier and raced in fifth spot in the Indian file affair for the first 900m before gaining a good sit in the one-out, one-back position. He battled on gamely.
“I didn’t want to run that slow in the first lap,” said McDonald. “With the horses behind him being restrained, he switched right off. So, I wasn’t looking at going so slowly, but I got away with it. He won well and was holding the other horses easily enough. However, as a racehorse he has a lot to learn.”
Star Lavra is a half-brother to outstanding five-year-old Lavra Joe, a winner of 29 races and $530,819 in prizemoney. He gives every impression of developing into a leading candidate for this season’s rich three-year-old classics, particularly the $200,000 WA Derby on November 3.