Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
WA-bred four-year-old Crowd Control is a noted frontrunner, who has set the pace at five of his nine wins. But his trainer Kim Prentice is convinced that the gelding is better suited when racing with a sit.
Crowd Control has drawn out wide at barrier eight in the 2130m Adopt A Camel Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night when reinsman Mitch Miller is likely to restrain the pacer at the start and rely on him unwinding a powerful finishing burst.
“He is not just a frontrunner; he’s better as a sit horse,” said Prentice. “He was disappointing two weeks ago (when he was the $1.50 favourite and set the pace before hanging out under pressure and wilting to finish third behind Elwaddell over 1730m).
“But we found a problem, so, hopefully, he will run a good race this week. He can do some work and is better coming from behind.”
Most of the runners drawn inside Crowd Control on Friday night possess good gate speed, and there is likely to be a strong challenge for the early lead.
The polemarker Eldaytona, trained and driven by Lindsay Harper, will be resuming after a spell. Twelve of his 16 wins have come when he has set the pace.
State Of Heaven (barrier three) has led at seven of his 11 wins; Medieval Man (barrier four) has led at 11 of his 22 wins; Loucid Dreams (barrier five) has led at five of his nine wins; Firerockfireroll (barrier six) has led at nine of his 16 wins; and Regal Cheval has led at ten of his 16 wins.
There appears to be a strong chance that Harper will be keen to set the pace with Eldaytona, while nine-year-old Regal Cheval, trained and driven by Gary Hall Jnr, could be given the task of setting the pace from out wide at barrier seven. He possesses sparkling gate speed.
“There is a bit of speed inside him,” said Hall. “He’s working good and I’m undecided whether I’ll launch him. “I’ll see how he works tomorrow (Wednesday).”