Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Cooper, who has managed just one placing from eleven starts this season and has a losing sequence of 16, has a good chance of ending his 13-month drought when he begins from the No. 2 barrier off the front in the $21,000 Westral Handicap over 2503m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The Michael Young-trained Cooper is a standing-start specialist, whose latest four wins have been in stands. He showed welcome signs of improvement in a 2116m stand at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon when he began off the 10m mark, raced four back on the pegs and ran home strongly, out four wide, to finish sixth, one and a half lengths behind the winner Call To Arms. The final three 400m sections were covered in 28.5sec., 28.5sec. and 28.6sec.
Cooper will be driven by Gary Hall Jnr., who said: “We will probably jump to the front, and we might be able to hold them out.”
One of Cooper’s main dangers is likely to be his better-performed stablemate Watts Up Sunshine, who will start from the back mark of 20m and will be driven by Joseph Suvaljko.
Watts Up Sunshine will be making his first appearance in a stand in Western Australia after his first 14 starts in the State have been in mobile evets for three wins and three placings.
He has contested standing-start events only twice from his 73 starts — in Queensland in May 2022 when he led and faded to finish tenth at Albion Park and when he galloped out before finishing third at Redcliffe.
Soho Dow Jones, to be driven by Mitch Miller for trainer Kim Prentice, will start from the 10m mark and should fight out the finish, providing he begins safely. He has raced in four stands for wins at Pinjarra and Gloucester Park, a fifth from 20m at Bunbury and a ninth behind Ardens Horizon at Gloucester Park on June 23 this year when he galloped at the start, settled down in fifth position and then charged to the front after 900m before fading badly in the final lap.
Young holds all the aces in the Trots WA Pace, a sprint over 1730m, with Let It Linga perfectly drawn at barrier one and her stablemate Getn Wiggy Withit at barrier No. 2.
Maddison Brown will handle Let It Linga, who has won at her past two starts — when she led from barrier three and beat Too Be Watching over 2130m and then worked hard in the breeze before winning from the fast-finishing Miss Lamarr, rating 1.59.8 last Friday night.
Gary Hall Jnr will drive Getn Wiggy Withit, who has won once from 13 starts this season. The five-year-old began from barrier three and raced in fifth position, three back on the pegs, in a 2536m event at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night.
He was hopelessly blocked for a clear run in the final stages and was hard held when finishing a close sixth behind State Of Heaven. He drops in class on Friday night after competing against horses of the calibre Arma Xfactor, Master Publisher, Whos The Dad and Kimble in recent weeks. He is sure to prove hard to beat.