Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
WA-bred five-year-old Medieval Man was unplaced at the first five starts in his current campaign when he was the victim of wide barriers and back-row draws. But the noted frontrunner has relished favourable draws at his past two appearances.
He followed his fighting second to Dominus Factum last Friday week when he began from barrier two and fought on grandly after racing without cover all the way.
Then the noted frontrunner drew the prized No. 1 barrier and was the $1.40 favourite in the 2130m Retravision Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night. The gelding, part-owned and trained by Kiara Davies, gave Emily Suvaljko an armchair drive, setting a dawdling early pace before sprinting home in fine style to win by more than a length from $13 chance Valbonne, who was sixth at the bell before finishing strongly, out four wide.
After a crawling through the lead time in 40.4sec. and the opening quarters in 32.8sec. and 30.8sec. Medieval man dashed over the final 400m sections in 28.1sec. and 28.2sec.
The win boosted Medieval Man’s earnings to $131,371 from 15 wins and 17 placings from 81 starts.
“His form before his past two starts related pretty much to bad barriers,” said Davies. “He is a pleasure to train, and nothing worries him. He will race again next week.”