Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
New Zealand-bred pacer Tiger Royal, who has done all his racing in WA, is a smart opportunist, according to his trainer Ryan Bell.
Tiger Royal, a $11.60 chance, was driven patiently by Kyle Symington before finishing strongly to win by a half-neck from Middlepage ($61), rating a smart 1.56.5 over 2130m.
Tiger Royal was the sole runner off the back line and Symington was happy to take the trail behind the polemarker and $2 favourite Ima Fivestar General, who set a solid pace with quarters of 29.7sec., 29.4sec., 28.2sec. and 28.6sec.
Last-start winner Machnificent ($2.70) raced in sixth position, one-out and two-back, before Chris Lewis sent him forward, three wide, approaching the bell. Machnificent surged forward and eventually got to the front 100m from the post. But he was unable to hold out the fast-finishing Tiger Royal.
Symington was able to ease Tiger Royal off the pegs about 300m from home and the five-year-old Sweet Lou gelding sprinted powerfully to get home by a narrow margin.
“Tiger Royal has been knocking on the door,” said Bell. “He is an opportunist, and he showed that tonight. “Having soft runs recently from wide draws and from the back line has resulted in him not having hard runs and having those soft runs have been good for his confidence.
“I have had a few issues with him, and I’ve backed off him a bit, and he seems to have come good. I don’t know how far he will go. He is a horse who thrives when racing fresh. He will have an easy time next week and he will race again in a fortnight.”