Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Star driver Deni Roberts faces a busy time at Gloucester Park’s twilight meeting on Friday with drives in six events on the eight-race program.
As usual, she will have a strong following of supporters, and she has declared the best prospect as three-year-old gelding In Rare Air in the opening event, the 2130m Garrard’s Horse And Hound @ Gloucester Park Pace.
In Rare Air, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, has won at three of his nine starts and will begin from barrier four, with smart fillies Trixie Dora, Slay Queen and Im Category Five drawn inside of him. He gave a strong frontrunning display at his second appearance after a spell when he sprinted over the final quarters in 28.1sec. and 27.8sec. to win from Bettor Behave and Cease To React over 2100m at Bunbury last Saturday.
“He has really good gate speed and I will be hoping to lead,” said Roberts. The Bond stable also will be represented by Slay Queen, to be driven by Kyle Symington from barrier two, and The Final Offer, to be driven by Tom Nally from the No. 5 barrier.
Banjup trainer Michael Young also has three runners — polemarker Trixie Dora (Emily Suvaljko), Butter Me Up (Kylah Madden; barrier seven) and Cease To React (Gary Hall Jnr; barrier nine).
Suvaljko is upbeat about the prospects of Trixie Dora, a winner at two of her twelve starts who was unlucky last Friday night when she was checked and broke soon after the start and settled down in tenth position before running home solidly to finish fourth behind Miss Leopatra, Wishing Belle and Sovereign Jewel over 1730m when the final 800m was covered in 56.6sec.
“Trixie Dora’s past two runs have been good, and she has been working well,” said Suvaljko. “She has gate speed and used to be a good frontrunner who led when second to El Mystro (at Pinjarra last June). She can run a pair of twenty-sevens.
“She is capable of winning, and so too is Cease To React (who has shown promise in winning four races and being placed nine times from 18 starts).”
The Colin Brown-trained Im Category Five, to be driven by Maddison Brown from barrier three, cannot be underestimated despite her first run as a three-year-old when she began out wide at barrier eight and raced at the rear before finishing ninth, ten lengths behind the winner Miss Leopatra last Friday night. Brown has a smart second-strong runner in My Machane, the sole runner on the back line, who had a hard run, first-up in the breeze, when a close fourth behind Typhoon Treasure two Tuesdays ago.
Serpentine trainer Micheal Ferguson will be looking for another spirited performance from Maternal Dreams, who will be driven by Stuart McDonald from the No. 5 barrier. Maternal Dreams has impressed at his four appearances in his current campaign which have resulted in two wins and two placings.
Other drives for Roberts include the Bond-trained Captainshavtime (race three) and Troubadour (race seven).
“This looks like a nice race, first-up, for Captainshavtime, who will be racing against older horses for the first time,” said Roberts. “Her work at home has been good. She is a horse who needs to be up on speed, so I don’t know whether this back-line draw will suit her.”
Roberts said that there were excuses for Troubadour’s well-beaten ninth behind Vinita Rose last Friday night, and she expects a better performance from barrier four on Friday night when his obvious toughest rivals Spitfire and Lincoln Lou have drawn the two outside positions on the front line.
“It was hard to come from behind in the wet last week, and the slow pace didn’t help Troubadour,” said Roberts. “I will be planning to send him forward on Friday night because he races well when up on the speed.”