Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Two weeks ago, Stormy Vista, driven by Emily Suvaljko, was the $2.90 favourite when he finished fourth behind his Michael Young-trained stablemate Luvbite in a 2503m stand, and Suvaljko is now planning to reverse the result by guiding Stormy Vista to victory in the Bridge Bar Handicap at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“This is a race we’ve been looking for Stormy Vista, starting off the front,” said Suvaljko. “The last time the two horses met Luvbite (30m) and driven by Kylah Madden, gave Stormy Vista (20m) a ten-metre start, and this week Luvbite will begin off 40 metres, and Stormy Vista will start from the front mark, and I don’t think he will be able to give Stormy Vista a 40m start on Friday night.
“I’ll be trying to get to the top and rating the backmarkers out of the race.”
When the pair clashed last Friday week Stormy Vista had a tough run in the breeze all the way before finishing fourth behind Luvbite, who was eighth at the bell before finishing strongly to get to the front 100m from the post and winning from Chivalry.
Stormy Vista has not raced since then, while Luvbite completed a hat-trick of victories last Friday night when he began out wide from the No. 8 barrier in a 2536m mobile event and burst straight to the front before giving his rivals little chance by sprinting over the final 400m sections in 28.5sec. and 27.6sec. and winning by just under three lengths from stablemate Beetastic.
Gary Hall Jnr had the choice of three drives in Friday night’s event, and he has given punters a lead by opting to handle A Little Silence ahead of Alta Tribute (30m) and Blazing Reactor (20m).
Alta Tribute will be driven by Stuart McDonald, and Kyle Symington will drive last-start winner Blazing Reactor for Bunbury trainer Bob Mellsop.
The New Zealand-bred A Little Silence, trained by Gary Hall Snr, will begin from the 20m mark, and this will be the lightly-raced five-year-old’s first appearance in a standing-start event.
He has raced only eleven times for three wins, six seconds and two thirds. He began from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line in a 2130m event last Friday night and settled in last position in the field of twelve before Hall sent him forward after about 650m. He was then forced four wide before getting to the breeze and fighting on to finish third behind the pacemaker Opal Hunter.
“A Little Silence went really good last week, and he will be hard to beat if he gets away okay,” said Hall.