Ken Casellas | Race Replay
Enigmatic pacer Nathan Street goes into next Friday night’s final of the Nights Of Thunder as the slowest qualifier in the field of nine. But he was not extended in rating 1.54.4 in winning the third qualifying heat at Gloucester Park on Friday night, and he looms as a major winning chance in the final.
“He has a very good motor, and he should have won his past three or four,” said reinsman Gary Hall Jnr. “And on ability he is capable of winning the final, but he has some quirks. Arma Believer was very good tonight (when second to Codename Marcus), and it looks like he or Nathan Street will be the favourite.
“If Nathan Street was able to do things right, he would be a Cups horse.”
Nathan Street, the $1.30 favourite from the No. 3 barrier, was beaten for early speed by $21 chance The Wildcard, who set the pace for the first 350m before relinquishing the lead to Nathan Street.
Chivalry ($18) then moved to the breeze and after comfortable opening quarters of 29.4sec. and 30.5sec. Nathan Street dashed over the final 400m sections in 27.7sec. and 28sec. to win by two lengths from Chivalry, with My Copy ($61) running on from sixth at the bell to finish 7m farther back in third place.
The New South Wales-bred Nathan Street is a five-year-old by Lazarus, who has raced 29 times for eight wins, five placings and $201,241. A winner of four races in NSW and two in Victoria, he has had eight starts in WA for two wins and two seconds for trainer Gary Hall Snr.
Thelittle Master, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, bounced back to his best form with a decisive victory in the second qualifying heat of the Nights Of Thunder.
With the polemarker Sebastian James dominating betting as the $1.50 favourite, Thelittle Master was excellent value at $11.10 from the No. 5 barrier.
Deni Roberts was happy to allow Thelittle Master to drop back and settle in seventh position while the opening quarters were run at breakneck speed (27.6sec. and 28.5sec.) with the frontrunning Sebastian James being under pressure from the overracing $23 chance Maximum Rock in the breeze.
Thelittle Master sustained a spirited burst, out three and four wide, to get to the front in the home straight on his way to winning by a length and a half from $3.90 chance Spyglass, who enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back. Thelittle Master, who rated 1.53.7, ended a losing sequence of 14 and took his record to 56 starts for ten wins, 18 placings and $154,603.
“I was confident with about 600m to go that we had it in the bag,” said Roberts. “Down the back straight all the others were well off the bit, and I was probably the only one who was travelling.”