Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Maestro Bellini, a star two-year-old five years ago, will make his West Australian debut when he runs in the Nova 93.7 Pace at Gloucester Park on Saturday night.
He will be driven by his part-owner and trainer Brett Smith and should be prominent after starting as the sole runner on the back line in the 2130m event.
Maestro Bellini, a Queensland-bred seven-year-old by champion stallion Bettors Delight, has a losing sequence of 12, but has an impressive record of 88 starts for 18 wins, 24 placings and earnings of $209,690.
As a two-year-old in 2016 he won a group 2 classic over 1660m at Albion Park in which he raced in the breeze and rated 1.55.6. He also won a group 3 feature on debut at Albion Park and was third in a group 1 event on the same track and finished second to Jilliby Kung Fu in the group 2 APG colts and geldings consolation final at Melton.
Jilliby Kung Fu went on to earn $529,710 from 16 wins and 12 placings from 34 starts. A highlight of his career was his all-the-way victory in the 1609m group 1 Chariots Of Fire in 1.48.8 at Menangle in February 2018 when he scored by a head from My Field Marshal and beat home Soho Tribeca, Tiger Tara, Lennytheshark and Lazarus.
Among Maestro Bellini’s opponents on Saturday night will be his stablemate Burning Rubber, who will be driven by Chris Lewis from out wide at barrier seven. Burning Rubber finished strongly to win from Jesse Allwood and Dredlock Rockstar two starts ago.
Shadow Roll and Boom Time are racing keenly and will be popular with punters. Trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green has Shadow Roll in splendid form with a close third to See Ya Write and Al Guerrero, an all-the-way win over Euphoria and a fighting second to See Ya Write after working hard in the breeze at his three appearances after resuming from a spell.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Boom Time impressed on Friday of last week when he charged home from last to snatch a last-stride victory over Lord Rosco.
Egerton-Green also has excellent winning prospects with Lord Rosco in race one and Typhoon Banner in race two. Lord Rosco, trained in Bunbury by Stephen Reed, will start from the No.3 barrier and looks set to lead in the 2130m event. He led and was beaten in the final stride by Boom Time over 2536m last week.
Egerton-Green trains the promising and lightly-raced four-year-old Typhoon Banner, who will start from the prized No. 1 barrier. He is an excellent frontrunner, who gave a sample of his versatility at Bunbury last Saturday week when he began off 30 metres, raced in the one-out, one-back position and careered away from his rivals to win by ten lengths in moderate company.