Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Maddison Brown has given punters a good lead by opting to drive Mandown in preference to Ideal Tomado and Lamandier in the Santosh Contact Care Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Mandown is trained by Gary Hall Snr, while Michael Young trains Ideal Tomado and Lamandier.
Mandown, a winner at two of his 17 starts in New Zealand, has had one start in Australia when Gary Hall Jnr drove him to an easy victory over Rockability at Gloucester Park three Tuesdays ago.
Brown has driven Lamandier 17 times, including at his latest three runs for a third to Youre So Fine and a second to My Ultimate Baxter. She has driven Ideal Tomado seven times for two wins at Pinjarra.
Mandown has shown excellent potential, and what also influenced Brown’s decision was the fact that Mandown has drawn barrier No.4, while the Young runners drew wider barriers.
Another good drive for Brown is Velocipede, who has drawn perfectly at barrier one in the Cash Converters Pace for Hall Snr, who has bright prospects at landing the trifecta with Velocipede, Captain Bligh and Coney Island Lou.
Brown drove Velocipede to an all-the-way victory over the brilliant Whataretheodds three starts ago. However, the four-year-old faces a stiff test on Friday night against Captain Bligh, who was most impressive last Friday night when he set the pace and won effortlessly from Blaze Coops and Bellezza Nera at a 1.54.6 rate over 2130m.
In-form reinsman Stuart McDonald said he was confident that Captain Bligh would repeat the dose by leading and winning again on Friday night.
Trent Wheeler will handle Coney Island Lou from the outside barrier in the field of eight. Coney Island Lou set the pace and won over 2130m at his first two starts at Gloucester Park in late June and early July before he disappointed at odds-on when he had a tough run, three wide early and then in the breeze before fading to ninth behind Sorridere over 2100m at Bunbury last Saturday night.
Capel horseman Aiden De Campo looks set for a profitable night, during which he has bright prospects with The Miki Taker in the Rotary Club Of Fremantle Free-For-All, Rajah Rocks in race one, Machs Bettor (race four) and Swagger Man (race seven).
“Rajah Rocks went super at Bunbury last Saturday when he was able to lead and ran good time (1.56.78 over 2100m) and I’m sure he will run another good race,” said De Campo.
“Machs Bettor has a horrible draw (No. 9). It’s an even field and he is probably the best horse in the race. Swagger Man went super last week (when running home strongly to be second to Elwaddell), and if he can find the front (from barrier three) on Friday night he should be able to win. He looks my best of the night.”