Ken Casellas | Photo: Gloucester Park Harness Racing
Victorian-bred filly Castella Dellacqua will make her West Australian debut when she contests the Jani-King Premium Cleaning Pace for three-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
She is certainly bred to be a good winner, being a half-sister to five-year-old Act Now, who has amassed $696,185 in prizemoney from 19 wins and 11 placings from 39 starts. Act Now showed his class when he finished third behind I Cast No Shadow and Torrid Saint in the Interdominion Championship final at Melton last December after two wins and a third placing in the heats.
Castella Dellacqua has entered the Pinjarra stables of Madeliene Young and will be driven by her elder sister Jocelyn. She will start from the No. 2 barrier on the back line in the 1730m event — immediately behind speedy beginner Our Lililou.
Castella Dellacqua has had ten starts in New South Wales for one win and five placings. She broke through for her maiden success at her latest appearance, when she raced three wide for the first 250m and then took the lead and went on to beat Exotic Rockstar by a length and a half over 1720m at Penrith on May 11, rating 1.59.7 after setting a slow pace before sprinting over the final 400m in 27.8sec.
Our Lililou, to be driven by Corey Peterson for trainer Kim Prentice, has won once from 19 starts — as a two-year-old at Gloucester Park 13 months ago when she led from barrier one and beat August Moon.
She possesses excellent gate speed and is racing keenly, with seconds to Brulee at Gloucester Park and to Flying To Win at Narrogin good indications of her ability.
The Kevin Keys-trained Temukas Girl will start from the prized No. 1 barrier at her first appearance since early last November. Her only win from eight starts was when she made most of the running and beat American Monarch and Flametree over 12730m at Gloucester Park in February of last year.
Temukas Girl, to be driven by Shannon Suvaljko, warmed up for Friday night’s assignment with a win in a 2150m trial at Byford on Sunday morning when she ran home solidly to beat stablemate Cabsav by a neck, rating 2.2.2 after a final quarter of 28.5sec.
Cabsav will resume after a four-month absence when she begins out wide at barrier seven on Friday night, with Aiden De Campo in the sulky.
Serpentine trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green has engaged De Campo to drive his handy five-year-old gelding Lil Happy Fella in the Jani-King Thanking Our Cleaners Pace.
Egerton-Green was concussed when he tumbled to the track in a race at Northam on Tuesday night when Luke Attack paced roughly soon after the start of the sixth event and fell. He then was unable to drive Paul Edward in the following race, a heat of the John Higgins Memorial. Trent Wheeler replaced him in the sulky, and he brought Paul Edward home with a powerful burst from the rear to win convincingly from Bee Jays Boy and Lucky Galleon.