Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
New South Wales-bred pacer Jawsoflincoln sprinted home brilliantly to crush his rivals in the $31,000 Bathroom Central WA Members Sprint over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night, prompting his trainer Justin Prentice to contemplate planning setting the five-year-old for feature events next year.
“He will keep racing and then I might give him a bit of a freshen up over Christmas before bringing him back to see if he can take the next step,” said Prentice.
“I’ll be looking at the better Free-For-Alls and the Bunbury and Pinjarra Cups, leading into the Nullarbor in April. It would be nice to get a start in the Nullarbor, and though he is generally regarded as a short distance performer, I am confident he is capable of handling 2536m events like the Fremantle Cup.
Prentice, who prepared $31.20 chance Mighty Ronaldo for his victory in the Fremantle Cup in January 2023, said: “The Fremantle Cup journey shouldn’t worry Jawsoflincoln. Nothing suggests to me that he cannot run the distance. He works over a distance at home, and he runs races like the distance doesn’t bother him.
“He has a bit of bottom, and I’ve been waiting for him to get a run like he had tonight (three back on the pegs) where he can sit off them and not do too much work before getting home. He put them away nicely tonight.”
Gary Hall Jnr was impressed with Jawsoflincoln’s performance, saying: “He has a certain element of toughness about him, and if he draws to lead, he goes well in front. He can follow any speed, and generally in the better grades he is a bit of a sniper.”
Polemarker To Fast To Serious ($4.80) resisted early challenges for the lead from Jumpingjackmac ($11) and Captain Ravishing ($1.70) and he dashed over the opening quarter in 28.6sec. with Captain Ravishing in the breeze and Jawsoflincoln ($7.90) settling comfortably in fifth position, three back on the pegs.
Hall eased Jawsoflincoln off the pegs 400m from home and he moved into third place on the home bend, with Captain Ravishing taking a narrow lead. Jawsoflincoln hit the front with 100m to travel and he won by two lengths from Captain Ravishing, rating a smart 1.52.9 after a final quarter of 27.4sec.
The much-travelled Jawsoflincoln has now earned $195,909 from 20 wins and nine placings from 46 starts. A winner of 15 races in South Australia and one in Victoria, Jawsoflincoln has won at four of his ten WA starts.
“Approaching the home bend, he took a little bit to wind up to the speed they were running,” said Hall. “But on straightening up I was confident he was going to get over the top of them.”