Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Rocket City, who excelled as a two-year-old last season when he won from the brilliant Valedictorian and finished second to the unbeaten star Never Ending in the $215,000 Westbred Classic, will reappear after a six-month absence when he contests the APG $50,000 Sales Classic for three-year-old colts and geldings at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He is poorly drawn out wide at barrier eight in the 2130m event in which the in-form Lucapelo will be a warm favourite from the No. 3 barrier. But he has the class to seriously challenge the Michael Young-trained Lucapelo, who has set the pace and won at two of his past three starts.
Banjup trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green is looking forward to Rocket City’s three-year-old campaign. “His work has been good, leading up to this race,” he said. “His main dangers have drawn better than him but he has a great turn of foot, and hopefully he can get a nice track into the race, and hopefully we will see the best of him.
“He has been working with older horses and has been up to the mark. Whatever he does on Friday night, he will improve on.”
Young predicted a strong performance from Lucapelo, saying that the gelding was his best winning chance of his five runners at the meeting.
“He is hard to beat when he leads, and I think that the two horses drawn to his inside will be happy to sit on him. When he leads, he wins. And he can run good time in front.”
Star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr said that Lucapelo would come out hard in a spirited bid to get to the front. “He certainly goes best when leading,” he said.
Gnangara trainer Luke Edwards declared that August Moon was “jumping out of her skin” and would prove mighty hard to beat in the APG $50,000 Sales Classic for three-year-old fillies.
August Moon has won in effortless style at her first two appearances after a spell and she will be a hot favourite from the No. 3 barrier in a field of six in which she will be driven by Hall Jnr.
“August Moon is versatile and Gary will have options,” said Edwards. “She doesn’t need to lead to win, but I think she will go to the front.”
Hall is also looking forward to driving the Lisa Walton-trained Valbonne from the No. 1 barrier in the $20,375 apgold.com.au Pace. Valbonne began brilliantly from out wide at barrier seven when he was a very easy all-the-way winner at a 1.55.1 rate over 2130m last Friday night.
“He goes up to 2536m this week, and he won so well last week that I’ve got to have a crack at leading again,” said Hall.
Hall will also begin from the No. 1 barrier when he handles the Nathan Turvey-trained Benji in the Group 3 $50,000 APG Harness Racing Is Our Focus Chandon Four-Year-Old Classic over 2130m.
Benji impressed with his first-up effort when second to stablemate Mea Culpa over 1684m at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon. “The quarter down the back in 27.3sec. took the sting out of him a bit but he still went quite good,” said Hall.
“If he comes off well out of that run he should be hard to beat on Friday night.”
Turvey will also be represented with Showpony (Jocelyn Young; barrier No. 2) and with Eton Rock (barrier three). He will handle Eton Rock, a promising pacer who has had 27 starts for nine wins and nine placings.
The Turvey runners are sure to receive plenty of opposition from last-start winners The Miki Taker, Alcopony and Free Wheeling, as well as the Greg and Skye Bond-trained Street Hawk, who will have many admirers.
Street Hawk, a winner at eight of his 16 starts, will be driven by Deni Roberts and will be the sole runner on the back line in the field of ten. He had a tough run without cover when a close second to the fast-finishing Alcopony last Friday night.
Capel trainer-reinsman Aiden De Campo will drive the talented The Miki Taker, who will start from barrier five at his second outing after a five-month absence.
The Miki Taker resumed in fine style, racing in the one-out, one-back position before finishing strongly to win from State Of Heaven and Mea Culpa over 2692m at Pinjarra three Mondays ago. The final three 400m sections were run in 28.5sec., 28.5sec. and 28.7sec.
“It was a good win, first-up,” said De Campo. “It is a nice even field on Friday night, and The Miki Taker has an awkward draw. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do. He is a horse who improves with racing, not so much fitness-wise, but it sharpens him up. Street Hawk looks the testing material.”