Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Five-year-old Son Of A Whiz, the youngest and least experienced runner in the field, has bright prospects of setting the pace and winning the group 2 $30,000 Mondo Doro Smallgoods Trotters Sprint at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Busselton trainer Barry Howlett and champion reinsman Chris Lewis will be anxious for Son Of A Whiz to be on his best behaviour, and from the favourable No. 2 barrier, the speedy square gaiter should take plenty of catching if he performs as well as he did when he led from barrier one and won the 1684m Trotters Sprint at Pinjarra on Monday of last week.
An opening quarter of 28.2sec. left his rivals well and truly in his wake, and he went on to win at a 1.58.7 rate, beating Majestic Courtney by more than two lengths. As a three-year-old he revealed early promise as a sprinter when he set the pace and won a 1650m trot at Bendigo in February 2020, rating 1.58.8.
Tricky Ric and Beefour Bacardi were the two most favoured runners in the recent Pinjarra event, but both trotters broke into a gallop soon after the start and finished at the rear. Their previous form was excellent.
At his previous outing Tricky Ric made most of the running and won comfortably from Beefour Bacardi in a 2116m stand at Pinjarra. Beefour Bacardi was an impressive winner at his two previous outings, beating Tricky Ric in a 2503m stand at Gloucester Park and defeating Rolling Secret in a 2185m mobile event at Pinjarra.
Tricky Ric, trained by Gary Hall snr and to be driven by Gary Hall jnr, is favourably drawn at barrier three on the front line, while Beefour Bacardi, trained by Michael Young and to be driven by Maddison Brown, is handily drawn at barrier two on the back line, immediately behind Son Of A Whiz.
Even though Beefour Bacardi finished eighth, twelve lengths behind Son Of A Whiz, in the sprint at Pinjarra last Monday week, Young was delighted with the six-year-old’s performance.
“His run was phenomenal; he ran the final thousand metres in 1min. 11.6sec. which is unheard of for a trotter,” he said.
The Karen Bennett-trained Majestic Dream is racing in grand form for reinsman Kyle Harper, and cannot be left out of calculations, even from his wide draw at barrier seven. He won three races in a row in January, and he has performed soundly at his past two starts at Pinjarra, finishing third behind Beefour Bacardi, and third behind Son Of A Whiz.