Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Bunbury trainer Stephen Reed freely admits that Pocket The Cash is no star performer, but he admires the five-year-old’s consistency.
Pocket The Cash was the $2.50 favourite from the coveted No. 1 barrier in the 2130m City Discount Tyres Driven By Value Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night when Lindsay Harper drove the New Zealand-bred gelding to an all-the-way win to end a losing sequence of 17.
“He strung a number of wins together early and went through the grades quickly, and then found his grade,” said Reed. “However, he has been very consistent, running lots of thirds and fourths. Tonight, we had barrier one and were able to take advantage of it and get the win.
“He is a good little horse to train; he’s no world beater, just a nice consistent earner who will probably pick up another one or two more wins.
“There was a bit of a dash early and a bit of a charge at him tonight. I get the feeling he tends to race at his best when he rolls along. He hasn’t got a real top speed, so he is at his best when he can find the middle ground of going not too slowly or two quickly.”
Shadow Roll, a $9.50 chance, began speedily from barrier six and led by a length soon after the start but was unable to cross Pocket The Cash, who did well to hold out the $9.50 chance Fancy A Dance, who was eighth at the bell and finished strongly, out four wide.
The New Zealand-bred Pocket The Cash has done all his racing in WA and has earned $127,409 from 15 wins and 27 placings from 69 starts. He is by Bettors Delight and is the second foal out of Ideal Pocket, a winner at two of her 13 starts in New Zealand.