Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Astute Henley Brook trainer Mike Reed is predicting bigger and better things from Flying Rumour after the WA-bred five-year-old gave a powerful performance to win the Hoist Solutions Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“He is going extra good and has settled down after being a bit of a nut case early,” said Reed. “We have taken our time with him, and he has settled down and is getting stronger and stronger.
“Earlier, he would want to pull and charge. In the preliminary he gets a bit keen but once the blue light goes on, he just drops the bit. After a break he should come back even better. But while he is in such good form, he will keep racing.”
Flying Rumour was the $2.20 favourite from the No. 5 barrier, and he raced three wide to get to the breeze outside the $6 pacemaker Ifeel Sikdarl after about 550m.
Tiger Royal, the $3.70 second fancy, settled at the rear before Kyle Symington dashed him forward in the first lap. Shannon Suvaljko then wisely surrendered the breeze position to Tiger Royal 1150m from home.
Ifeel Sikdarl sprinted over the third quarter in 27.9sec., and Suvaljko bided his time until he switched Flying Rumour three wide with 300m to travel.
Flying Rumour surged to the front 110m from the post, and he won by one and a half lengths from Tiger Royal, rating 1.56.9, with a final quarter of 28.6sec.
That gave Flying Rumour his fifth win from his past eleven starts, and he now has a fine record of 29 starts for nine wins, nine placings and $85,789 in stakes.
Flying Rumour is by Fly Like An Eagle and is the fifth foal out of the Armbro Operative mare Stage Whisper, who manage one placing (at Pinjarra) from eight starts before being retired. Suvaljko was in the sulky when Stage Whisper’s first foal Extreme Dreams won at his final appearance, at Gloucester Park on September 14, 2018, to end his career with 14 wins, 18 placings and $138,340 from 84 starts.