Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Talented gelding Menemsha raced in the breeze before wilting to finish seventh behind Bet The House in a qualifying heat of the APG WA Gold Bullion for three-year-old colts and geldings on Tuesday of last week, but trainer-reinsman Aiden De Campo is confident he will make amends by winning the $50,505 final at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Menemsha, winner of the group 2 Pearl Classic and the group 1 Westbred Classic last year, has drawn perfectly with the No. 1 barrier in the 1730m final.
“So, from this barrier he gets a good chance to bounce to the front and hopefully he will lead and win,” said De Campo. “On face value, I’d be disappointed with his run in the heat. But he was having his first start for 25 days, and the winner went 1.54.1.
“He has pulled up really well, so I wasn’t too stressed about that effort, and I expect him to return to his best on Friday.”
Grevis, a stablemate of Menemsha, will start from the No. 3 barrier with Trent Wheeler in the sulky. Grevis ran home strongly from the rear when third behind Bet The House in the Gold Bullion heat before he raced wide early and then in the breeze outside Off The Charts over 2130m last Friday night before fading to finish fifth behind Kabochon.
“I thought Grevis was a touch disappointing last week,” said De Campo. “He looked like the winner on the corner, but he went sideways a little bit, lost concentration and didn’t finish off like he felt. His work this morning (Tuesday) was good, and he rarely runs a poor race.”
Opal Hunter, Bet The House and Ten To The Dozen are likely to be the toughest rivals for Menemsha.
Opal Hunter, trained and driven by Robbie Williams, has won at four of his eleven starts. He began from the back line in last week’s heat when he raced in seventh position before finishing solidly into fifth place. He is favourably drawn at barrier two on Friday night.
Bet The House, trained by Ron Huston and to be driven by Chris Voak, impressed in the heat when he enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before running home strongly to win from the pacemaker Ten To The Dozen and the fast-finishing Grevis.
“I have a high opinion of Bet The House, and he has a perfect draw on Friday night, as the only runner on the back line,” said Voak. “Menemsha looks the leader, and we will probably have the sit behind him. We have got to hope that a horse drops off at the right time, giving us the chance to get into the clear and go forward.”
Ten To The Dozen, to be driven by Deni Roberts for trainers Greg and Skye Bond, will start from the No. 6 barrier, and with a fine record of eight wins and five placings from 17 starts he cannot be overlooked as a strong winning chance. He led until the final ten metres when a close second to Bet The House last Tuesday week.
The Bond stable also has two other runners in the final — Thelittle Master (barrier five) and Thenu Came Along (barrier nine). Thelittle Master has won at five of his 19 starts, and Thenu Came Along has had 18 starts for four wins and six placings.
The Mike Reed-trained Water Lou, to be driven by Shannon Suvaljko, appears to have a stranglehold on the $50,505 final of the APG WA Gold Bullion for three-year-old fillies after drawing the coveted No. 1 barrier.
Water Lou notched her 12TH victory from 16 starts when she set a brisk pace and dashed over the final 400m sections in 27.9sec. and 27.5sec. when she scored an effortless victory in a qualifying heat on Tuesday of last week.
The Colin Brown-trained Xceptional Arma also is an outstanding pacer with a wonderful record of 22 starts for 12 wins, five seconds and one third placing. She will be driven by Maddison Brown from the No. 4 barrier.
Xceptional Arma began from barrier one when she won a qualifying heat by a length from the frontrunning More Sass. Xceptional Arma was beaten out at the start, and she was eased off the pegs after a lap and raced in the breeze for the final 950m before finishing too strongly for More Sass.
Xceptional Arma rated 1.54.8 compared with Water Lou’s rate of 1.55.2 in winning the other qualifying heat.