Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Shannon Suvaljko, who holds a commanding lead on the leading drivers’ premiership table, will be reunited with six-year-old Machnificent, who looks ideally placed from the No. 2 barrier in the Yuletide Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Suvaljko has not driven the Katja Warwick-trained Machnificent at any of the WA-bred gelding’s past 24 starts. The last time he handled Machnificent in a race was when he finished fourth behind Himself, Jumpingjackmac and Tenzing Bromac in the Golden Nugget on December 16, 2022.
He has a splendid record in the sulky behind Machnificent, having recorded nine wins and four thirds from 25 drives.
Machnificent has been unplaced at his five runs in his current campaign in which all were from awkward barriers. He is capable of considerable improvement from barrier two in a race in which Lavra Joe and Jumpingjackmac look certain to dominate betting.
The Ray Jones-trained Lavra Joe, to be driven by Maddison Brown, will be strongly favoured to return to the winning list when he begins from the No. 5 barrier in the field of eight, with Jumpingjackmac at No. 8.
Lavra Joe began from the outside barrier in a field of eight last Friday night when he raced wide early and then in the breeze before wilting to fifth behind the frontrunning Tricky Miki, who sprinted the final quarters in 28.1sec. and 27.7sec. in a 2536m Free-For-All. The previous week he trailed the pacemaker Jumpingjackmac and fought on determinedly to finish a neck second to that pacer over 2130m.
Six-year-old Lavra Joe has won 33 times from 77 starts and has amassed $755,134 in prizemoney. He currently has a losing sequence of eleven, the longest lean run of his distinguished career.
Jumpingjackmac maintained his solid form last Friday night when enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before running home strongly to finish a close second to Tricky Miki.
Evergreen veteran Galactic Star will be driven by Deni Roberts from barrier six, and the Greg and Skye Bond-trained gelding should be prominent. Galactic Star trailed the pacemaker Jaspervellabeach before finishing strongly to win from Hampton Banner over 2130m three weeks ago.