Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Serpentine trainer Dylan Egerton-Green holds a powerful hand in the $50,000 John Higgins Memorial at Gloucester Park on Friday night, with excellent prospects of not only winning the 2130m feature event but also landing the quinella.
However, he is unable to drive either of his runners, four-year-olds Rockmyster and Paul Edward, under the harness racing industry’s concussion protocols.
The 30-year-old Egerton-Green was concussed when he tumbled to the track in a race at Northam on Tuesday of last week when Luke Attack paced roughly soon after the start and fell.
This prevented him from driving Paul Edward in a qualifying heat of the Higgins later in the program. Trent Wheeler proved an able deputy when he brough Paul Edward home with a spirited burst from eighth at the bell to win easily in dashing style from Bee Jays Boy and Lucky Galleon.
Paul Edward was most impressive in sprinting over the final 400m sections in 28.4sec. and 28.3sec. The victory took his career record to 39 starts for seven wins, 14 seconds and five thirds.
Wheeler is serving a 12-day suspension and cannot drive Paul Edward, who will be handled for the first time by Maddison Brown. Paul Edward is favourably drawn at barrier No. 2 on the back line, and Brown has excellent prospects of notching her first win in the Higgins Memorial, a race that has been won four times by her father Colin.
Colin Brown drove the Egerton-Green-trained Tyler Brett, who was a $16.40 chance when he won the Higgins Memorial by a length and a half from the $1.70 favourite Simba Bromac in July 2018. That followed Brown’s earlier successes in the race with Valiant Soldier (2003), Money Magnet (2004) and Delightful Offer (2015).
Egerton-Green has engaged Gary Hall Jnr to drive Rockmyster, who is ideally drawn at barrier No. 2 on the front line. This will be Hall’s first drive behind Rockmyster, who has had 15 starts in WA for seven wins and three placings. Egerton-Green has handled Rockmyster in all but one of his WA starts.
Rockmyster possesses good gate speed, and he has set the pace at four of his seven WA victories. He began from barrier two in a Higgins qualifying heat at Bunbury on July 12 when he led for the first 70m before taking the sit behind the frontrunning Rock On Top. He finished strongly along the sprint lane and won comfortably from Cheer The Major and Peter Petrify.
Rockmyster then contested a 1730m event at Gloucester Park last Friday week when he began out wide at barrier eight and was tenth and last with 700m to travel before fighting on gamely to finish a commendable sixth behind High Price.
Hall will be seeking his fifth win in the Higgins, after scoring with Partywithedevil (2010), In The Perfect Storm (2014), Rub Of The Green (2016) and Mr Fantastic (2022).
In The Perfect Storm and Rub Of The Green were prepared by Michael Brennan, who will be represented by Miss Lamarr (barrier four) and Hes A Cool Mach (barrier six) on Friday night.
The powerful Bond stable will be pinning its faith on Peter Petrify to give it a record sixth win in the Higgins Memorial, after Greg Bond prepared Money Magnet (2004) and Richard Henry (2005) and Greg and Skye Bond trained Delightful Offer (2015), Rock Diamonds (2017) and See Ya Write (2021).
The Bonds have also finished second in the Higgins six times — with Mister Odds On (2008), Condrieu (2013 and 2015), Char Du Neigh (2016), Courage Tells (2019) and Markham Eyre (2022).
Peter Petrify warmed up for Friday night’s race in fine style last Friday night when Deni Roberts brought the four-year-old home with a strong burst from the one-out, one-back position to win a 2130m event by a length from the pacemaker Peligroso.
That was Peter Petrify’s eighth win from 21 starts, and he is capable of fighting out the finish after starting from the awkward barrier at No. 7 on the front line.
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Lucky Galleon will be driven for the first time by Jocelyn Young when he starts from the outside of the back line. He was the $3.10 favourite from barrier one in the Higgins Memorial last year when he set the pace before wilting to fifth behind Mr Fantastic, who, coincidently began from the outside of the back line.