Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
South Australian-bred three-year-old Rolling Fire is developing into an excellent second string to brilliant youngster Never Ending as Boyanup trainer Justin Prentice is setting his sights on the $200,000 WA Derby on November 3.
Rolling Fire, the $2.10 second fancy in the 2130m Steelo’s Restaurant Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, notched his seventh win from twelve starts when he was untroubled to set the pace and easily beat the $2 favourite Skylord, rating a smart 1.55.8.
Rolling Fire, driven by Gary Hall Jnr, was smartest to begin from barrier three and he withstood an early challenge from Skylord, who began from barrier six.
After opening quarters of 30.5sec. and 30.3sec. Rolling Fire sped over the final 400m sections in 27.6sec. and 28.2sec.
“I thought Rolling Fire would run a really good race,” said Prentice. “Probably the question mark was how he would go when leading, considering he was beaten (by Sorridere) in a Pearl heat when he set the pace two starts ago. I think that something must have been off that night.
“Skylord is a lovely horse, and we needed things to go our way to beat him. We will aim for the best program for him leading into the Derby. Maybe he will have a couple more runs and then have a slight let-up. He hasn’t had a lot of racing, so he doesn’t need much of a break.”
Prentice also trains the outstanding gelding Never Ending, who has had nine starts for nine wins, including three Group 1 and one Group 3 feature events for two-year-olds.
“Never Ending is doing some hopple work now and should resume racing in the near future,” said Prentice, who also has high hopes that Mikis Beach will develop into a Derby candidate after starting his career with brilliant wins at his first two starts, at Pinjarra and Bunbury in the past month.