Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Six-year-old Bee Jays Boy has been out of the winning list for 31 months, but he gets a perfect chance to return to the winning list when he begins from the prized No. 1 barrier in race one, the $21,000 Metlabs Irisndt Christmas Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He will be driven by Emily Suvaljko, who is sure to be keen to set the pace. She drove the horse three starts ago when he raced in the one-out, two-back position before running home strongly to finish a head second to Flying Rumour.
Bee Jays Boy was driven by Shannon Suvaljko at his following start when he sustained a spirited burst to finish third behind Longreach Bay and Joey James. Then, last Friday night he began from the back line and raced three back on the pegs before finishing seventh behind stablemate Shelley Beach who set the pace from the No. 1 barrier and held on to win from Mighthavtime and Tiger Royal.
Our Shelley Beach will again be driven by Shannon Suvaljko and will start from the No. 12 barrier on the back line.
Henley Brook trainer Mike Reed is not particularly enthusiastic about Bee Jay Boy’s winning prospects, saying: “He has good gate speed and is capable of leading. But he is just a run-of-the-mill horse. Our Shelley Beach should get a good run and will be running on.”
Looming large as the main danger to the Reed pacers is trainer Michael Young’s handy five-year-old October Reign, who is handily drawn at barrier three and will be driven by Gary Hall Jnr, fresh from landing a treble with Beach Captain, Getn Wiggy Withit and Ventura at Bunbury on Wednesday afternoon.
This took Hall’s tally this season to 254 wins, beating his previous record season of 252 wins in the 2019-20 season.
October Reign has a losing sequence of seven — since he led and beat Lamandier and High Price at Gloucester Park on September 1. October Reign fought on gamely from three back on the pegs to finish fourth behind Mister Montblanc over 2130m last Friday night.