Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Lightly-raced New Zealand-bred three-year-old Mister Smartee is poised to make a successful Gloucester Park debut when Gary Hall Jnr drives him from the coveted No. 1 barrier in race one, the 2536m Beau Rivage @Gloucesterpark Pace on Friday night.
Mister Smartee, trained by Gary Hall Snr, impressed at his Australian debut when he led from barrier one and was not extended in winning by three lengths from Colorado Banner at a 1.58.8 rate over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday of last week.
All eight three-year-olds in Friday night’s event will be racing over 2536m for the first time, but the extra distance should not prove a problem for Mister Smartee, who raced twice in New Zealand as a two-year-old late last year.
Both of those events were over 1980m at Addington — when, on debut, he started from the inside of the back line, raced in fifth position, three back on the pegs, and flashed home to finish a head second to the pacemaker Da Vinci, rating 1.57. The final 800m was covered in 54.6sec. and the last 400m was run in 26.7sec.
Then, at his next start, he began from the outside of the front line (No. 7), and raced in the one-out, one-back position before charging to the front with 200m to travel and holding on to win by a nose from the fast-finishing favourite Sinbad, with the last 800m in 56.7sec. and the final 400m in 28.4sec. Mister Smartee rated 1.53.1 to set a New Zealand record for a two-year-old.
Mister Smartee is one of four runners in Friday night’s field of eight who are prepared by Hall Snr, the others being Franco Mecca (Aiden de Campo), He’s Never Been Beta (Maddison Brown) and Star Lavra (Stuart McDonald).
He’s Never Been Beta has won five races and Franco Mecca and Star Lavra have each won three times. However, Mister Smartee’s main opposition could well come from the Greg and Skye Bond-trained Fess Up and the Jocelyn Young-trained Skylord.
Fess Up (Deni Roberts) has been most impressive in winning at seven of his 18 starts, and Skylord (Madeliene Young) has shown considerable promise in winning at six of his eleven starts.