Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Star four-year-old Lavra Joe is thriving on a diet of constant racing and will compete at Gloucester Park for the fifth consecutive week when he lines up at barrier No. 4 in the $30,000 Bill The Better Butcher Free-For-All on Friday night.
Owner-trainer Ray Jones said that Lavra Joe is getting better and better all the time, and he has rejected the temptation to take the brilliant gelding to Victoria to contest the Interdominion championship series in November and December.
“He might go the Inters the following year, but at the moment there’s too many good races here, like the Golden Nugget, the Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup,” he said.
Last Friday night Lavra Joe had just a casual stroll in the park when he led and was not challenged at any stage when an effortless winner over Gambit and Diego, rating a modest 1.59.1 over 2536m. He could well find things somewhat more difficult this week with smart beginners and good frontrunners Diego and Jumpingjackmac drawn to his inside.
“He’s not fussed about running that time,” said Jones. “He is happy to just go around, particularly when there are not that many strong horses in Free-For-Alls who want to go and sit on his outside.
“He has won easily at his past two starts. He works harder when he gallops at home where all his work is in the cart in the sand. He does no hopple work.”
Diego, trained by Gary Hall Snr, is ideally drawn at barrier No. 1, and he looms as a serious challenger to Lavra Joe this week. He caught the eye last Friday night when he was eighth at the bell and flew home, out five wide, to finish second, two lengths behind Lavra Joe.
Diego will again be driven by Maddison Brown, who will be anxious to replicate the six-year-old’s stylish performance four starts ago, the most recent time he has begun from the No. 1 barrier. That was over 1730m on July 29 when he set the pace and sprinted the final 400m in 26.7sec. on his way to beating Chicago Bull.
Gary Hall Jnr will handle Jumpingjackmac, who will start from barrier two. “He went super last week, racing one-out and one-back before being pushed three wide at the 700m,” said Hall. “They ran a quick time down the back straight and Jumpingjackmac had to hold his ground to prevent him from being pushed again.
“He then got past Minstrel (who was in the breeze), and it was only Diego and Gambit who got him late. He impressed me the way he went.”
Hampton Banner, who resumed after a spell last Friday night in fine style when he began brilliantly from barrier four to set the pace and win from Jaspervellabeach and Plutonium, will start out wide at barrier seven and will be driven by Jocelyn Young, with Chris Lewis opting to drive Lavra Joe. He has exceptional gate speed, but he is unlikely to be able to cross to the front this week.