Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr has given punters a valuable lead by choosing to drive Ideal Tomado in preference to Ira Poole in the 2130m Garrard’s Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
His decision was influenced by the Michael Young-trained Ideal Tomado drawing the coveted No. 1 barrier, and Ira Poole, trained by Gary Hall Snr, drawing a little awkwardly at barrier five. Ideal Tomado is at his best when he leads, and Hall will be setting his sights on an all-the-way victory.
The New Zealand-bred Ira Poole, a winner at ten of his 44 starts, will be handled by Trent Wheeler. Ira Poole raced without cover for the first 500m before setting the pace and wilting to finish fourth behind Jett Star over 2130m last Friday night.
Cloud Nine, trained and driven by Stuart McDonald, is ideally drawn on the inside of the back line and he should obtain a perfect sit behind Ideal Tomado, an all-the-way winner at Gloucester Park four starts ago.
Cloud Nine impressed with his strong-finishing win over Rock Me Over over 2536m last Friday night.
Hall will be looking for a repeat performance from Finvarra when he drives the six-year-old in the Ray Duffy Memorial Free-For-All. Finvarra, trained by Gary Hall Snr, began speedily from the No. 3 barrier when he scored a smart all-the-way win at a 1.55.5 rate over 2130m last Friday night.
This week Finvarra will again begin from the No. 3 barrier, with While They Pray and To Fast To Serious drawn on his inside.
The Hall camp holds a strong hand, with Finvarra’s stablemates Wildwest (Stuart McDonald) and Diego (Maddison Brown), drawn barriers six and seven, respectively, in the seven-horse field.
Wildwest was ninth and last at the bell before finishing fast, out five wide, to be fourth behind Finvarra last Friday night, while Diego ran home solidly to finish third after enjoying an ideal passage in the one-out, one-back position.
Adding interest to the race on Friday night will be the return of Steel The Show, who will be having his first start for four weeks, since he set the pace and finished second to Jumpingjackmac over 2536m. A week before that Steel The Show, trained by Greg and Skye Bond and driven by Deni Roberts, led and won convincingly from To Fast To Serious over 2536m.