Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Five-year-old Jumpingjackmac is the only runner in the 12-horse field in the $100,000 James Brennan Memorial at Gloucester Park on Friday night who has not won a race in 2023.
But the New Zealand-bred gelding, prepared by Hall Of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr, has bright prospects of ending a losing sequence of 19 by taking full advantage of the prized No. 1 barrier by setting the pace and defying the quality opposition in the 2536m Group 2 feature event.
Jumpingjackmac, to be handled by his regular reinsman Stuart McDonald, is generally regarded as a smart sit-sprinter who performs at his best when held up for a late burst.
However, he is also an excellent frontrunner who has begun from the No. 1 barrier five times at Gloucester Park in his 53-start career and has set the pace in all of those events for three wins, a half-length second to Magnificent Storm, and a fifth placing behind Magnificent Storm when he was disadvantaged by contacting his sulky with his hind legs. Jumpingjackmac has also won another four races when setting the pace.
Jumpingjackmac was not suited in a 2536m Free-For-All last Friday night when he started from barrier seven and was driven forward in the first lap to race in the breeze, with the polemarker Minstrel setting a solid pace. He wilted to finish sixth behind Minstrel.
Jumpingjackmac has certainly been a most unlucky performer finishing second to Mighty Ronaldo in the 2021 WA Derby, second to Lavra Joe in the 2022 Four-Year-Old Championship, second to Pinny Tiger in the 2022 Four-Year-Old Classic, second to Diego in the WA Pacing Cup last January, second to Diego the 2023 Pinjarra Cup and third behind Betterzippit and Spirit Of St Louis in the $1 million Nullarbor in April this year.
Jumpingjackmac is one of four runners Friday night’s fields, the others being Wildwest (barrier eight), Diego inside of the back line) and Prince Of Pleasure (outside of the back line).
Gary Hall Jnr will drive Prince Of Pleasure, who faces a hard task from his back-line draw, Callan Suvaljko will handle Wildwest, and Maddison Brown will be in the sulky behind Diego.
The Hall team will be seriously tested by the six runners prepared by champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, with the stable’s No. 1 driver Deni Roberts giving punters an important lead by choosing to drive Steel The Show ahead of Tenzing Bromac, Himself, Minstrel, Patronus Star and Galactic Star.
Steel The Show is favourably drawn at barrier three, and Roberts is sure to be anxious to use the six-year-old’s sparkling gate speed in a bid to get to an early lead.
The New Zealand-bred Steel The Show has been driven by Roberts in all of his 12 starts in Western Australia for six wins and three placings. He has not been beaten when he has set the pace, twice from barrier one, three times from the No. 5 barrier and once from barrier three.
Greg Bond has given a strong indication of the tactics likely to be employed buy Steel The Show, saying: “He marches off the arm quite good, and he will probably come off the arm pretty hard and probably look for the lead. All horses will find a spot and will make the relevant moves at the relevant times.”
The Bonds have a good record the Brennan Memorial, having been successful with Vampiro in 2018 and Jimmy Johnstone in 2019, while Hall Snr has won the race with Alzona (2011), Waylade (2016) and Chicago Bull (2017). Hall Jnr was in the sulky for the wins of Alzona and Chicago Bull.
Tenzing Bromac is in top form and should run a powerful race from barrier four for Dylan Egerton-Green. Roberts has driven the five-year-old six times for three wins, one second and two thirds, while Egerton-Green was in the sulky when the gelding made most of the running and dashed over the final 800m in 55.8sec. and easily beat Mighty Ronaldo over 2536m three starts ago.
Tenzing Bromac warmed up for this week’s race with a smart all-the-way victory over the fast-finishing Pinny Tiger, rating 1.53 over 2130m last Friday week.
Pinny Tiger, to be driven by Trent Wheeler for trainer Michael Brennan, is awkwardly drawn at barrier seven. He is a brilliant beginner, but his best prospects appear to be when he is held up for a late charge.
Brennan has won the Brennan Memorial with Im Victorious (2013) and Frith (2015). Chris Lewis, who will drive Himself from barrier No. 2, has won this event with Lord Maselle (1981), Black Irish (1983), Village Kid (1986, 1987 and 1990), Ohoka Ace (2005), Has The Answers (2010) and Dasher VC (2012).
Justin Prentice, who drove the Brennan-trained Im Victorious to victory in the 2103 Brennan Memorial, trains the talented WA-bred Mighty Ronaldo, who will be driven by Emily Suvaljko from barrier five. Mighty Ronaldo finished strongly when second to Minstrel in a 2536m Free-For-All last Friday night.