Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Baskerville trainer Ryan Bell holds a powerful hand in the $50,000 Team Bond Pearl Classic for three-year-olds at Gloucester Park on Friday night and has high hopes of winning the event for the second time, following Swingband’s success in 2022.
Bell’s prospects soared when Franco Encore drew the prized No. 1 barrier, and Waverider drew barrier two in the Group 3 classic.
He is having great difficulty in predicting the outcome of the race.
“I’m happy with both of them,” he said. Mitch Miller will drive Franco Encore, one of the two New Zealand-bred pacers in the field of eleven, the other being the Greg and Skye Bond-trained Prince Of Pain, who will start from the inside of the back line with Deni Roberts in the sulky.
Kyle Symington will drive Waverider, who has begun from out wide at barrier seven and has finished second at each of his past three starts.
“I’ll leave the tactics up to the drivers,” said Bell. “Franco Encore and Waverider are raced by two separate owners, so the drivers can drive their own race.
“Franco Encore gets his chance to prove himself again (after Miller drove him to a surprise all-the-way victory by a nose over the odds-on favourite Waverider two starts ago). I think that each horse will hold his own at the start.”
Franco Encore and Waverider were beaten in separate qualifying heats of the Pearl on Tuesday of last week, with Franco Encore starting from barrier three and overracing in the breeze before fading to finish fifth behind the pacemaker Ideal Muscle, and Waverider starting from the outside barrier (No. 7) and working hard without cover before finishing resolutely to finish second, a half-neck behind the frontrunning Arma Believer.
“I wasn’t particularly disappointed with Waverider,” said Bell. “He ran the times, and being a colt he has been doing too well and has been above himself. But we’ve screwed him down this week and he should be ready to rock and roll.
“Franco Encore overraced badly in his heat but he didn’t stop until half-way up the straight. At this stage of his career, he is a rails opportunist. He will hold up early (on Friday night) and as long as he doesn’t get too much pressure, he will be hard to beat.”
Capel trainer Aiden De Campo has three runners in the Pearl, Rajah Rocks (Ryan Warwick; barrier three), Ideal Muscle (Trent Wheeler; barrier five) and Bettor Arcade (Gary Hall Jnr; barrier nine).
“Ideal Muscle is racing very well and is the pick of the three,” said De Campo. Ideal Muscle started from barrier one when he set the pace and dashed over the final 400m in 27.4sec. when he won his qualifying heat by seven metres from Cork Can Run, rating 1.57.8. That was his fifth win from 17 starts.
Cork Can Run, an all-the-way winner at Bunbury three starts ago, is awkwardly drawn at barrier No. 6. “His numerical form looks good, but I’ve been a bit disappointed with him,” said trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green. “However, I expect him to hit the line strongly.”