Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
New Zealand-bred gelding Rockmyster is poised for a strong showing in the opening event, the 2130m Follow @Gloucester Park On Twitter Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night after splendid efforts at his first three appearances on country tracks at the start of his four-year-old campaign.
He will begin from the prized No. 1 barrier, and trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green predicts a bold showing following the Rock N Roll Heaven gelding’s fast-finishing third behind Soho Firestone at Narrogin and all-the-way victories at Northam and Bunbury.
“It’s a good draw for him,” said Egerton-Green. “There is a bit of gate speed outside of him, but he is good enough to hold a prominent forward position. He steps up in grade, but I think he is up to it. He has led and won at his past two starts and he also led and won at Gloucester Park as a three-year-old.”
Rockmyster’s chief rival could well be trainer-reinsman Gary Hall Jnr’s eight-year-old Armed Reactor, who is the only runner on the back line and likely to take the trail behind Rockmyster.
“I’ll be looking to hold Rockmyster’s back,” said Hall. Armed Reactor resumed after a spell last Friday week when he overraced badly in the breeze on the outside of the pacemaker Cheer The Major before fading to finish last behind Tiger Royal.
Egerton-Green also has bright winning prospects with Otis, who will start from the 10m mark in the 2503m Xmas In July Handicap in which he will clash with the highly-promising four-year-old Soho Dow Jones.
Otis reappeared last Friday week after a 660-day absence while recovering from a fractured pedal bone — and he gave a superb performance to win in fine style from Taking the Miki after losing more than 50 metres when he galloped at the start.
“Otis should get away a lot better this week,” said Egerton-Green. “That was his first go at it (in a stand) and he got a bit scared. This week from barrier four on the 10m line he should get a safe beginning.”
Mitch Miler will drive Soho Dow Jones for trainer Kim Prentice, who said: “He has won a stand (at Pinjarra five starts ago) and at home he steps really quickly. But when he gets to the races, he gets a little bit agitated.
“If he gets away well enough to lead, he will give Otis something to chase. If we happen to lead and Otis misses the start a bit, we could make it interesting.”
Soho Dow Jones gave an excellent example of his ability at his latest appearance when he set the pace in a 2130m mobile event and dashed over the final quarters in 28.8sec. and 28.4sec. to win by five and a half lengths from Shehadi at Gloucester Park on Tuesday of last week.
Gary Hall Jnr has given punters a lead by choosing to drive Yankee Lincoln in preference to Lamandier, who will be handled by Maddison Brown.