Sugar Street, the only New Zealand-bred pacer in the opening event, the 2536m Westside Auto Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, should get punters off to a flying start by proving too strong for his nine rivals in the event restricted to three-year-olds.
Trained in Busselton by Barry Howlett, Sugar Street will start from the inside of the back line and star reinsman Chris Voak is bullish about his winning prospects.
“He felt great last start (when he raced without cover and won from Icanbolt over 2130m on Tuesday of last week),” said Voak. “He’s got some class and some X factor.”
Several of Sugar Street’s rivals have been racing keenly, with one of his opponents being stablemate Lil Happy Fella, who will be driven by Emily Suvaljko from barrier seven. Lil Happy Fella followed a win over Be Rock Hard three starts ago with a strong-finishing second to Aussie Edition over 2242m at Narrogin and a solid fourth behind Finvarra in the Group 1 Westbred Classic last Friday night.
Powerplay, trained by Debra Lewis, warmed up in good style at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night when he began speedily from barrier four, set the pace and dashed over the final 400m in 28.5sec. to win by two and a half lengths from Our Burling, rating 1.59.4 over 2130m. Powerplay, to be driven by Chris Lewis from barrier five, has won at eight of his 29 starts.
Give Us A Wave (Ryan Warwick) and Strike Team (Aiden de Campo) also will have admirers.
There is likely to be a keen battle for the early lead between The Verandah (barrier one) and Fanci A Dance (two) in race two, the 2536m Rock N Roll World Pace.
Gary Hall Jnr gave punters a valuable lead by choosing to drive the Chris Willis-trained The Verandah ahead of Alta Intrigue, who is prepared by Gary Hall Snr and showed encouraging form last Friday night when he finished solidly to be second to Double Up. Alta Intrigue will start from barrier two on the back line with Maddison Brown in the sulky.
“The Verandah gets a chance to win another race,” said Hall Jnr. “His last-start third behind Sagano and See Ya Write at Pinjarra was a good run.”
Chris Voak will drive the Barry Howlett-trained Fanci A Dance and said that the eight-year-old had sound prospects. “His latest run (when he raced without cover and finished second to Louie The Horse) was excellent,” he said. “He will be driven positively and will make a play for the lead.”
by Ken Casellas