Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Star pacer Magnificent Storm is poised for a powerful first-up performance when he starts from the prized No. 1 barrier in the $50,000 Mount Eden Sprint at Gloucester Park on Friday night, according to his driver Aldo Cortopassi.
The five-year-old gelding, trained at Mt Helena by Ray Williams, will be making his first appearance for eleven weeks, and Cortopassi said that the 1730m trip would not worry him.
“He is pretty sharp off the arm, and we saw that when he came across from barrier nine in the Fremantle Cup last January,” said Cortopassi.
“I’m not a hundred per cent sure what Ray wants to do, but I expect we will run the gate because over the mile you can’t afford not to. Then we will play it by ear. I think that Lavra Joe (barrier four) will definitely be having a good look at us.”
A couple of weeks ago Williams took Magnificent Storm to Byford for a workout by himself, and Cortopassi said: “He felt really sharp and was right on song.”
Magnificent Storm has started from the No. 1 barrier only once during his 31-start career of 23 wins and four placings and that was in the group 2 James Brennan Memorial over 2536m when he led for the first 100 metres before Vampiro surged to the front.
Magnificent Storm sat behind Vampiro for the following 600m before regaining the lead and going on to win by a head from the fast-finishing Vampiro. Magnificent Storm also has raced over 1730m only once, in a Free-For-All last December when he began from barrier nine and was restrained to the rear before charging home, out five wide, to finish fourth, one length behind the winner Wildwest.
Lavra Joe and Jumpingjackmac (barrier three) loom large as Magnificent Storm’s most serious rivals.
“Lavra Joe will handle the 1730m okay,” said champion reinsman Chris Lewis. “There is plenty of pace inside us, and I think that we will have to play it by ear and see what happens. He should run a good race, and it will be a good test for him. A lot of time it is staying ability that wins a sprint race.”
Lavra Joe, a winner at 26 of his 44 starts for trainer by Ray Jones, is in top form and he warmed up for this week’s sprint in fine style with an easy all-the-way victory over Plutonium in the 2130m Past President’s Cup last Friday week.
Lewis has an excellent record in the Mount Eden Sprint (formerly the State Sprint Championship) with five victories, scoring with Village Kid (1987), Whitby Timer (1990), Flashing Star (1997), Sneakyn Down Under (2008) and Sensational Gabby (2014).
Champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr holds the record with eight victories in the prestigious sprint event. He has been successful with Bengeeman (2002), The Falcon Strike (2006), Im Themightyquinn (2011 and 2012), Waylade (2015), Chicago Bull (2017 and 2020) and Hurricane Harley (2021).
Hall is looking forward to a strong performance from Jumpingjackmac, who is prepared by his father Gary Hall Snr. “It promises to be a good race,” said Hall Jnr. “Jumpingjackmac was super last Friday night when a very close third behind Plutonium and Gambit in a 2130m Free-For-All.”
Jumpingjackmac raced in the one-out, one-back position before charging home, out four wide, when he was only a head behind Plutonium on the line. That followed his head second to Diego over 2139m four weeks earlier.
Ryan Warwick, who has won the Mount Eden Sprint with Lookslikelightning (2005) and Vampiro (2018), will drive the talented Greg and Skye Bond-trained five-year-old Minstrel from barrier five. Minstrel finished strongly when third behind Lavra Joe and Hampton Banner over 2130m four Fridays ago.
The State’s premier sprint was first run in 1955 and Im Themightyquinn is the only pacer to have won the event two years in a row. Star Boyanup trainer Justin Prentice is hoping that Hurricane Harley can repeat his performance of last year when he started from barrier seven and raced in sixth position before finishing strongly to win from Babyface Adda and Perfect Major.
Hurricane Harley, who has not raced since finishing seventh behind Wildwest in the 2936m WA Pacing Cup on February 4, faces a stern first-up test from the outside of the front line.
Hurricane Harley showed his fitness in a two-horse trial over 2100m at Bunbury three Wednesdays ago when he set the pace and beat his stablemate El Chema by a half-length at a 1.55.9 rate, with finals quarters of 28.1sec. and 26.8sec. He was driven by Aiden De Campo, who will be driving the six-year-old for the first time in a race on Friday night.