Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Evergreen pacer Regal Cheval will be one of the favoured runners when he begins from the No. 4 barrier in the opening event, the Trotsynd Register Your Interest Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The big query confronting punters will be whether the nine-year-old can end a 20-month drought and a losing sequence of 42.
Since his latest success, when he led from barrier two and held on to beat Euphoria by a half-head over 2536m at Gloucester Park on June 10, 2022, he has managed four seconds and five third placings.
Regal Cheval has had three starts for trainer Gary Hall Jnr and has impressed with a close second to Soho Santorini, a third to Anotherbigman, and a fifth behind October Reign last Friday night.
Regal Cheval, who will be driven by Maddison Brown, is at his best when he leads, and one of his chief rivals on Friday night will be the polemarker, the Kiera Davies-trained Medieval Man, who will be driven by Gary Hall Jnr.
Medieval Man, a winner three starts ago when he began from the outside barrier (No. 9) and raced in the breeze before beating Street Appeal, has started from the No. 1 barrier five times for three wins (when leading) and a second and a third after trailing the pacemaker.
Also drawn inside Regal Cheval on Friday night are fast beginners Joey James and Getn Wiggy Withit, with trainer-reinsman Lindsay Harper’s five-year-old Sugar Apple one of the fancies at barrier No. 5.
Sugar Apple began from barrier one in a 2130m event last Friday night when he got to the front after 150m and set a moderate early pace before dashing over the final quarters in 27.1sec. and 28.7sec.
Rocknroll Elliot, trained by Jocelyn Young and to be driven by Kyle Symington, will have admirers from his favourable draw on the inside of the back line. He has been placed at three of his past four starts and should fight out the finish.