Ken Casellas | Photo: Gloucester Park Harness Racing
The Marathon Handicap is one of the few feature races that has eluded champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, but they are poised to right that wrong by winning the group 3 event over 3309m at Gloucester Park on Friday night with the lightly-raced New Zealand-bred gelding Himself.
Himself, a four-year-old gelding by Sportswriter, stamped himself as a pacer with a bright future when he gave a powerful performance in the group 2 San Simeon Pace last Friday night when he worked hard without cover for much of the race, took a narrow lead 600m from home and refused to give in when a fighting half-head second to talented stablemate Socrates.
That followed impressive victories at his first three appearances in Australia, all in standing-start events, at Bunbury, Northam and Gloucester Park.
Ryan Warwick will drive Himself, who will start from barrier three on the front mark, immediately on the outside of his chief rival, Cooper, another smart New Zealand-bred four-year-old.
The Bonds and Warwick had high hopes of winning the Marathon Handicap two years ago with the $2.70 favourite Donegal Art Chokin, who set the pace before fading to finish seventh behind Rebel With A Grin, with the Bond camp’s second-string runner Twilight Saga finishing fourth after trailing the pacemaker.
Bond-trained runners were placed in the Marathon Handicap in the two previous years, with Vampiro finishing third behind Runrunjimmydunn and Motu Premier in 2018, and Better Scoot finishing second to Eloquent Mach in 2019.
Himself clashed with Cooper in a 2503m stand two starts ago when he galloped and lost four lengths at the start before racing in the breeze and finishing strongly to win by a half-length from Cooper.
Cooper, trained by Michael Young, started off the 40m mark in a 2503m stand at Bunbury last Friday night when he fought on from sixth at the bell to be fourth behind Bayardo.
“The last time Cooper met Himself, our horse flew away, while Himself galloped at the start,” said Young. “So, hopefully, Cooper will fly away again, and Himself doesn’t. There’s not much between the two horses.”
Acuto and Major Mucha, who will start off the 10m mark, are recent standing-start winners who will have admirers. Acuto, prepared by Chris Phatouros, warmed up in good style when he began from the 50m mark and finished strongly from fourth at the bell to win easily from Hesacharmer over 2560m at Northam last Saturday night. That followed placings in stands at his three previous outings.
Major Mucha, trained and driven by Chris Voak, impressed in a 2631m stand at Pinjarra three starts ago when he finished strongly from four back on the pegs to win from Master Yossi.
“Major Mucha is a little fence follower,” said Voak. “The journey will suit him, and he should race three back on the pegs, and I’d be disappointed if he didn’t run fourth or fifth. He is in a good zone, and his eighth behind Plutonium last Friday night was good, with final sectionals of 28.6sec., 28.3sec. and 28.3sec.”