Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr looks set to dominate the $31,000 Westral Shadetrack Outdoor Blinds Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He has five of the seven runners engaged in the 2130m Free-For-All, with Jumpingjackmac his leading candidate after setting the pace and finishing a neck second to Catch A Wave in the Fremantle Cup and then scoring an emphatic victory over the pacemaker Steel The Show over 2536m at his past two appearances.
Jumpingjackmac will begin out wide at barrier six and will be handled by his regular driver Stuart McDonald, while Gary Hall Jnr will drive Youre So Fine from barrier four.
Maddison Brown will drive Diego (barrier seven), Trent Wheeler has been engaged for Finvarra (barrier two), and Mitch Miller will drive Wildwest from barrier No. 5.
Hall Jnr said that Finvarra and Youre So Fine had been working together in fine style but conceded that Jumpingjackmac would prove hard to beat.
Hall said that he considered his best winning prospect in the ten-event program was the 2023 WA Derby winner Skylou, who will start from 10m in the 2503m Westral Window Blinds Handicap.
Skylou is in good form and his four starts as a four-year-old have included two in stands for an easy victory in the 2503m Easter Cup and a close second to stablemate Im The Black Flash when he raced wide early and then without cover.
“Skylou probably will have to sit outside the pacemaker and do the job from there,” he said. Dourado (barrier one off the front) and Jill Mach (barrier two) are successful standing-start performers, and each excels as a frontrunner.
Trainer-reinsman Aiden De Campo said that he was pleased with Dourado’s strong finishing effort when third behind Colorado Banner and Suga Rush at Pinjarra on Monday.
“Hopefully Dourado will be able to lead and play a part in the finish,” said De Campo. The Karen Young-trained Jill Mach will be driven by Trent Wheeler, who was in the sulky when the eight-year-old mare set the pace and finished second to Carana in a stand last Friday week.
Carana, to be driven by Deni Roberts for leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond, will begin from the 20m mark and he appeals as the greatest danger to Skylou.
Hall also considers New Zealand-bred four-year-old Captain Bligh a good winning prospect in the Go One Better With Westral Pace in which the gelding will start from the No. 2 barrier on the back line.
Captain Bligh raced wide early and then in the breeze when a fighting third behind Brickies Dream and Magnus Victor last Friday night. That followed two wins at Bunbury and an all-the-way success at Pinjarra at his three previous outings.
“He battled on well last week and he is a winning chance this week,” said Hall. “He has been hanging badly and will be better when that is sorted out.”
Leading reinsman Shannon Suvaljko said that his best winning chance was the Matt Scott-trained Barbados, who is perfectly drawn at barrier one in the 2130m Westral Quality Since 1973 Pace.
Barbados has finished second at three of his five starts after resuming from a spell. “He has raced well since his first-up second to Travelban at Narrogin last month,” said Suvaljko. “He led in that race, and he has enough speed to lead and go on and win on Friday night.”
Chris Voak said that his best drive was the lightly-raced Storm The Beach, who will start from the No. 1 barrier in the final event, the 2130m Westral Verishade Curtains Race.
“Hopefully he will be able to lead all the way,” said Voak, who set the pace with the four-year-old when he scored an easy victory over Courage Of Lombo last Friday night.