Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Five of the eight runners in the $30,000 SEFS Trotters Sprint over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night are out of the draw in mobile events because of erratic behaviour at the start.
Therefore the start will be vital in this group 3 feature event, particularly taking into account that this event has been won in the past three years by the smartest trotter into stride who went on to set the pace and defy the opposition.
War Spirit ($6) led from barrier four and won in 2020, $19 chance Tenno Sho started from the No. 3 barrier when he led and beat Dark Secret in 2021, and Tricky Ric (the $2.10 favourite) began from barrier three and defeated My Mdina last year.
Pinjarra trainer David Young is looking for a powerful performance from brilliant trotter Patched, who is out of the draw in mobiles, following an indiscretion which resulted in him finishing seventh in a field of eight at Pinjarra two starts ago.
Patched will begin from the No. 5 barrier and star reinsman Aiden De Campo will be fiercely determined to get the six-year-old away smoothly.
Young and De Campo were excited at the brilliance shown by Patched at Gloucester Park on Tuesday of last week when he began from the 40m mark in a 2503m stand, settled down in fifth position and raced without cover for 950m before taking the lead in the final 70m and winning by a length from Line The Starzzz.
That victory took his WA record to 19 starts for eleven wins and six placings. The toughest opponents for Patched appear to be Dark Secret (barrier three) and Line The Starzzz (four).
Chris Lewis will again handle Dark Secret for Waroona trainer Nigel Johns, who is hoping that the evergreen nine-year-old will repeat his performance after he ended a losing sequence of 23 by unwinding a powerful finishing burst to win the 1684m Trotters Sprint at Pinjarra three Mondays ago.
Dark Secret beat his stablemate Luvaflair, who will be driven by Lauren Harper from the prized No. 1 barrier on Friday night.
Line The Starzzz, who will be driven by Emily Suvaljko for Wonnerup trainer Terry Ferguson, will begin from the No. 4 barrier. She took the lead after a lap when an excellent last-start second to Patched on Tuesday of last week.