Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Busselton owner-trainer Barry Howlett extols Classic Choice’s splendid frontrunning ability and he considers that the New Zealand-bred six-year-old would be highly successful contesting the 1609m events at the spacious Menangle track in New South Wales.
“He has high speed and is ideally suited in front,” he said after Mitch Miller had driven Classic Choice to a smart all-the-way victory in the 2130m Catalano Trucks New And Used Truck Sales Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“I might be selling him,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it. It’s too hard for him here, unless he draws to lead. He has got to be in the first few.
“From barrier two tonight the plan was to lead, and I expected him to be hard to beat. He should go good at Menangle, with all the mile races there.”
Classic Choice, the $2.50 second fancy, was rated perfectly by Miller, and after a slow lead time of 39sec. and an opening quarter of 30.9sec. he covered the final sections in 29.2sec., 28.2sec. and 28.4sec. to win by a half-length from $5.50 chance Cordero, who trailed him throughout before finishing determinedly.
Born To Boogie, the $2.45 favourite, enjoyed an ideal trip in the one-out, one-back position, trailing the breeze horse Vultan Tin. She moved forward three wide 250m from home, but failed to flatter, finishing a well-beaten third in the field of four.
Classic Choice ended a losing sequence of nine and improved his record to 71 starts for 14 wins, 22 placings and $152,793 in prizemoney, proving to be an excellent buy after being purchased in New Zealand as a yearling for $11,000.
Classic Choice is by Sweet Lou and is the second foal out of Heart Of Jessie, who won at five of her 32 starts in New Zealand. Her half-brother Pazam was a speedy pacer who raced 41 times for 22 wins, six placings and $136,113. Pazam won at 19 of his 31 starts in WA between 1998 and 2004.
Meanwhile, Howlett is looking forward to racing the first five foals to be sired by his former outstanding young pacer Jack Mac. They will be yearlings on January 1.
“These youngsters are looking good and are showing promise. We’ve also got foals by Bettors Delight and Sweet Lou, and Jack Mac’s foals look better than those,” said Howlett, who owned and trained Jack Mac (by Mach Three) for his 23 starts for 16 wins and $285,973. His victories included the 2017 Golden Slipper and the three-year-old Pearl Classic in May 2018. Jack Mack’s final appearance was in December 2018 when he won a Golden Nugget preview before breaking down.