Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Brilliant filly Wishing Belle’s winning sequence of seven was broken three weeks ago when she raced in the breeze and finished a neck second to the frontrunning Miss Leopatra in a race restricted to three-year-old fillies.
On Friday night this week she will clash with three fillies, two geldings and a colt in the 2130m Bridge Bar Open Saturday and Sunday Pace, and leading trainer-trainer reinsman Aiden De Campo thrown down the gauntlet and challenged her rivals.
“I will try to get to the front, and I’ll be hoping she will give the boys, particularly D Mac and Proposition Joe, something to chase,” he said. “She is working super at home and is my best on the night.”
Wishing Belle was unlucky three weeks ago at her first appearance after a spell. She began swiftly from out wide at barrier eight before being restrained to the one-out, one-back position and then dashing forward to the breeze after 300m. Her prospects were affected when her nearside lugging pole became loose and then detached 400m from home.
“The winner rated a fast 1.55.7, and Wishing Belle’s effort after sitting in the breeze was excellent,” said De Campo. “She definitely needed the run, and she seems to have improved since then.
Champion trainer Gary Hall Snr has given the New Zealand-bred D Mac a solid preparation and the colt is poised for a strong first-up effort. This will be his first outing since he set the pace from barrier three and won the group 1 Golden Slipper by two lengths from Wake Up Geoff on September 26.
D Mac will begin from the outside barrier in the field of seven, with his driver Gary Hall Jnr saying that he was probably his best winning chance on the night.
“He has had as much work as Im Stealthy before he won first-up at Pinjarra and then again at Gloucester Park last Friday night,” said Hall Jnr.
Proposition Joe (barrier six) comes into the race with excellent credentials, having won at his only two appearances in New Zealand last October and then racing twice at Pinjarra for leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond as a three-year-old for a win over Wheelsofortune over 1684m and then second to Im Stealthy at Pinjarra after racing without cover.
Trainer Ryan Bell’s smart gelding Southerner (barrier five) cannot be underestimated after winning three races in a row in January and February.