Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Highly-promising pacer Rolling Fire will resume racing after a three-month absence when he begins from the No. 2 barrier in the 2130m SEFS The Asset Finance Specialists Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The South Australian-bred four-year-old, who is trained by Justin Prentice, will be driven by Emily Suvaljko from the favourable barrier No. 2, and he should prove hard to beat, first-up, when he clashes with ten older and more experienced rivals.
Rolling Fire won at three of his seven starts as a two-year-old, and his twelve starts as a three-year-old produced three wins and three placings.
His latest appearance was in the WA Derby on November 3 when he finished solidly to be fourth behind Skylou, Never Ending and Im The Black Flash. He was fourth behind Mister Smartee at his previous outing.
Rolling Fire looks well placed in Friday night’s race, with his main danger likely to be the polemarker, the Michael Young-trained Ideal Tomado, who will be driven by Gary Hall Jnr at his fourth start after a spell.
Ideal Tomado had a tough run in the breeze when third behind Rockandrollartist over 2265m at Albany last Friday night. He set the pace and won easily at Albany at his two previous outings.
Flying Rumour (barrier three) and Lil Happy Fella (three) should also be prominent following excellent efforts last Friday night when Flying Rumour finished powerfully to win from The Miki Taker, and Lil Happy Fella sprinted home smartly to finish fourth behind the brilliant Pinny Tiger.
Champion trainer Gary Hall Snr will produce smart four-year-old Hes Never Been Beta for his first appearance for seven and a half months when the New Zealand-bred gelding will begin from barrier six in the 2130m Westerntrilogy.com.au Pace.
Hes Never Been Beta, to be handled by Gary Hall Jnr, showed promise with three wins from six starts as a two-year-old and two wins and four placings from seven starts as a three-year-old.
One of Hes Never Been Beta’s main rivals is likely to be the Michael Young-trained Lucapelo, who was restrained at the start from barrier six, and caught the eye in finishing strongly from sixth at the bell to be second to All Is Well over 2130m last Friday night when the final 800m was covered in 56.2sec. Lucapelo will be driven by Maddison Brown.