Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Injury-plagued six-year-old The Ideal Touch excels as a frontrunner and he was not extended to score an all-the-way victory in the 2536m $22,000 Sky Channel Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Making his second appearance after a spell, The Ideal Touch was the $1.90 favourite from the No. 1 barrier. Gary Hall Jnr sent him straight to the front and he was able to dictate the terms, with the $2.65 second fancy Tenzing Bromac in the breeze.
The Ideal Touch sped over the final 800m in 56sec. and he beat $5.50 chance Socrates by two lengths, rating 1.59.6, with Tenzing Bromac a neck away in third place.
Leg injuries have restricted The Ideal Touch, trained by Gary Hall Snr, to 27 starts for ten wins and eight placings. He won once from four starts in New Zealand, as a two-year-old in 2019, and his 23 WA starts have produced nine wins and eight placings.
He is by American sire American Ideal and is the fourth foal out of the Mach Three mare Touch Of Rose, who raced 43 times for four wins, 13 placings and $69,756.
“The Ideal Touch has always had really good ability, but it has been hard to gauge how well he is going at home,” said Hall Jnr. “He has had tremendous leg problems his whole life. He would be a genuine Cups horse if he had good legs.
“He has had so many setbacks with issues with his front legs. He is about as sound as we can get him at the moment, and tonight he was terrific. There were some good horses in the race and I wouldn’t have been disappointed if he had been beaten. He got away with a pretty easy lead time, but I definitely didn’t think that he would handle them that well.”