Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Im The Black Flash and Fess Up will warm up for the $200,000 WA Derby in a fortnight when they clash in the 2130m Cowden The Insurance Brokers Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
They are the youngest runners in the field of twelve — and should fight out the finish.
Im The Black Flash, to be driven by Gary Hall Jnr for trainer Gary Hall Snr, is capable of overcoming a wide draw at barrier eight on the front line, while the Greg and Skye Bond-trained Fess Up (Deni Roberts) is sure to appreciate a favourable draw at barrier two on the back line.
Im The Black Flash, a winner at six of his 15 starts, is in top form. He started from the back line in a 1730m event last Friday night and raced in seventh position before easing off the pegs at the bell running home strongly to finish a half-length second to Fess Up, who set the pace from the No. 1 barrier and rated 1.54.4.
Hall will be anxious to keep Im The Black Flash in front of Fess Up, and the New Zealand-bred gelding has a good chance of turning the tables on his rival.
The toughest for the two three-year-olds to beat is likely to be trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green’s smart four-year-old Rockmyster, who has raced 27 times for eight wins and five placings. Rockmyster, who will start out wide from barrier seven, resumed after a let-up at Gloucester Park last Friday week when he set the pace before wilting to finish third behind Lusaka and Star Casino. He is sure to be improved by the run.
Twenty-one-year-old Kyle Symington, who landed his 200TH winner when he drove the Ryan Bell-trained Machs Bettor to an easy victory in a 2620m event at Northam on Tuesday night, has several good drives on Friday night.
His best winning chance could be the Bell-trained Codename Marcus in the 2536m Cowden Insurance Solutions Pace in which he will start from barrier two on the back line.
Codename Marcus, a former Victorian performer, impressed at his fourth start in WA when he raced in last position in a field of eight before moving forward, three wide, at the bell to burst to the front 550m from home and then race away and win by more than eight lengths from Blue Blazer, rating 1.58.5 over 2536m at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
Codename Marcus will need to reproduce a similar effort to beat in-form pacers Classic Choice and Rockaball.