Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Veteran Wanneroo owner-trainer Charlie Luca has prepared five winners over the past ten years, and he gets an ideal opportunity to add to his tally when Chief Copy starts from barrier six in the $21,000 Westside Auto Tailored Financing Available Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Chief Copy, a WA-bred four-year-old, has been knocking on the door for his regular driver Hayden Charles and is certainly overdue to end a sequence of second placings from his past four starts.
He caught the eye last Friday night when he began from the outside of the back line and ran home strongly from seventh at the bell to finish second to brilliant filly Quintessa. He is sure to appreciate a drop in class this week.
Chief Copy, a for-year-old horse by My Hard Copy, has won only once from 28 starts, when Charles drove him to an all-the-way victory in the $30,000 Westsired listed classic for two-year-old colts and geldings in June 2023. But he has also finished second ten times and third on four occasions.
The 77-year-old Luca has always had only a small team in work, but he has a second string in Friday night’s race, with five-year-old gelding Starlight Song, a winner at one of his 29 starts, favourably drawn at the No. 2 barrier. He will be driven by Vance Stampalia.
Chief Copy’s main rival looks likely to be the Brad Lynn-trained Ciganda, who will be driven by his son Toby from barrier five. Since scoring a narrow win at Bunbury in January, Ciganda has shown promise with his third placing behind Pinjarra Rocks at Gloucester Park and his second to Bogart at Gloucester Park.
Star three-year-old Cyclone Jordy, trained by Gary Hall Snr and driven by Gary Hall Jnr, has not been extended in winning at his first three appearances in WA, including the group 1 Golden Slipper last September, and he looks outstanding in the $23,000 Westside Auto Wholesale Pace on Friday night.
He will start from the No. 4 barrier and will line up against nine much older and more experienced rivals at his second appearance after a spell, following his easy win at Pinjarra on Monday of last week when he made most of the running.
“His work has been really good since his first-up win at Pinjarra,” said Hall Jnr. “He should be pretty hard to beat.”
Among Cyclone Jordy’s rivals is four-year-old Thelittle Master, who will be driven by Deni Roberts for trainers Greg and Skye Bond. “He will need the speed on after starting from barrier nine,” said Roberts.
Another of Cyclone Jordy’s opponents is Winegum, who will start from the No. 3 barrier with Stuart McDonald in the sulky. The six-year-old Winegum, trained by Katja Warwick, reappeared after a spell in fine style at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening when he began from the outside of the back line and charged home from ninth at the bell to win from Under The Alta.
Winegum gave 17-year-old Darcy Kulcsar his first success as a reinsman at his 51ST drive in a race.