Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Mighty pacer Penny Black reinforced her status as the best mare in WA when she did all the hard work in the breeze before winning the$50,000 Westside Auto Lombardo Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Delighted trainer Michael Young declared after Penny Black, the $1.70 favourite, had defeated Alta Allure ($8.50) and Madam Publisher ($13), rating a smart 1.55, that he was seriously contemplating setting the big and powerfully built mare for upcoming rich feature events.
“The $1.2 million Nullarbor and the $300,000 Fremantle Cup are on the radar for Penny Black,” said Young. “I think she has earned a start in those big races.”
The Nullarbor slot race will be run on April 17, and the Fremantle Cup will be held the following week.
Penny Black lined up against the State’s best open-class pacers in the WA Pacing Cup last December when she began from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line and was trapped four wide early before being restrained back to the rear and finished last behind Minstrel.
“The wide draw put her out of play,” said Young. “In the big races to come she will not be able to be driven like she is against the other mares (wide early and then in the breeze).”
Young added that Penny Black would be much better suited in top company when driven with a sit, saying: “She has a really high cruising speed. She was very good tonight, and her run probably was up there with her best. The leader (Sugar Delight) was running solid sectionals and Penny Black had to dig in to win.”
Penny Black was driven with the usual confidence by Emily Suvaljko, who said: “She is big and powerful and so tough. She is an incredible horse to drive, and tonight she didn’t peak half way up the home straight like she did, first-up, when she won last week. She has definitely come on.”
Penny Black won once from six starts in New Zealand as a three-year-old in 2023, and her 36 starts in WA for Young have resulted in 17 wins and ten placings, taking her earnings to $431,785.
She is by boom sire Sweet Lou and is the fourth foal out of the unraced Rocknroll Hanover mare Tessa Rocks.