Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Noted frontrunner Diego has drawn the prized No. 1 barrier and is poised to give Maddison Brown an historic victory in the $100,000 Group 2 J. P. Stratton Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The 27-year-old Brown will become the first female to drive the winner of the Stratton Cup which was first run on Saturday August 31, 1935, when John Thomas drove the favourite Nelson Pronto to victory over All Charm and Chic, rating 2.17.5 in the two-mile race which carried stakes of two hundred pounds ($400).
Brown has formed a wonderful association with the seven-year-old New Zealand-bred Diego, having driven him 27 times for seven wins, five seconds and four thirds. The Bettors Delight gelding has set the pace at eight of his 57 starts in Western Australia for eight wins.
“He is unbeatable in front,” said a proud trainer Gary Hall Snr after Brown had driven Diego to a brilliant all-the-way victory in a 2130m Free-For-All last Friday week when he sprinted over the final 400m sections in 26.5sec. and 27.8sec. and rated 1.54.9 in beating stablemate Gambit and Magnificent Storm.
Brown’s only appearance in a Stratton Cup was when she drove Medieval Man into seventh place behind Perfect Major in October 2021, with the other female drivers in that race being Emily Suvaljko (fourth with Blue Blazer) and Deni Roberts (fifth with Alta Intrigue).
The closest a female driver has got to winning the Stratton Cup was in October 1991 when Kellie Kersley finished second with Quecee, two lengths behind champion pacer Village Kid.
Brown has high hopes of joining her father Colin as a winning driver of a Stratton Cup. Colin has been successful with Demoralizer (2007), Russley Rascal (2012) and Vampiro (2019).
Hall has prepared the winner of the Stratton Cup five times, scoring with Bengeeman (2002), Alzona (2011), Waylade (2015) and Chicago Bull (2018 and 2021). Those pacers were driven by Gary Hall Jnr.
Diego is one of Hall senior’s four runners in Friday night’s 2130m Cup, the others being Prince Of Pleasure, Gambit and Jumpingjackmac.
Hall Jnr has given punters a good lead by choosing to drive the inexperienced but richly talented Prince Of Pleasure, who will begin from barrier five on the front line. Stuart McDonald will handle Gambit from the inside of the back line, and Aiden De Campo will be in the sulky behind Jumpingjackmac, who will start from barrier two on the back line.
Diego is No. 2 in RWWA’s second rankings release for the Fremantle and WA Pacing Cups later this month. Retaining the No. 1 ranking is the outstanding six-year-old Magnificent Storm, who has drawn the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line in the Stratton Cup.
Astute Mt Helena trainer Ray Williams and star reinsman Aldo Cortopassi are full of hope that Magnificent Storm will overcome the disadvantage of the wide barrier and warm up for the Fremantle and WA Pacing Cups with a Stratton Cup win — after their disappointment when Major Pocket, in his final start, was a $7.50 chance who set the pace and led until the final couple of strides to finish a close third behind Vampiro and El Jacko in the in the Stratton Cup in November 2019.
Magnificent Storm, a winner at 27 of his 38 starts, began from the back line in a 2130m Free-For-All last Friday week when he raced in sixth position in the one-wide line before starting a three-wide move 900m from home. He covered the final 800m in 54.3sec. and finished an excellent third behind Diego.
Six-year-old Prince Of Pleasure has won at eight of his 19 starts and he looks set to fight out the finish of Friday night’s Cup. He started from the outside of the back line in a 2536m Free-For-All last Friday night when he settled down in the one-out, one-back position before Hall Jnr switched him three wide after 400m to move to the breeze while Vampiro was setting the pace.
With 1400m to travel Minstrel moved to the breeze, thus giving Prince Of Pleasure an ideal sit in fourth position. Prince Of Pleasure finished strongly and took a narrow lead in the final 40m before Ideal Agent charged home to get up in the final stride to beat him by a half-head.
Gambit and Jumpingjackmac are in excellent form and are capable of fighting out the finish.
Champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond will be pinning their faith in Mighty Conqueror (barrier four) and Patronus Star (barrier six). Ryan Warwick will handle Mighty Conqueror, and Deni Roberts will drive Patronus Star.
The Justin Prentice-trained Mighty Ronaldo (currently at No. 17 in the Fremantle and WA Pacing Cup rankings) is handily drawn at barrier two and will be driven by Emily Suvaljko.
Jocelyn Young has been pleased with the recent efforts of the Debra Lewis-trained Hampton Banner, who is awkwardly drawn out wide at barrier No. 8 on Friday night.
“Everyone thinks that he is just a frontrunner but he is a good sit-sprinter,” she said. Hampton Banner, who set the pace and won from Wildwest and Mighty Conqueror over 1730m four starts ago, finished strongly from eighth at the bell to be fourth behind Ideal Agent last week.
“It was a very good run,” said Young. “My whip got stuck in the top of the crupper in the late stages and I couldn’t hit him because I was too busy trying to free the whip.”