Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Lightly-raced four-year-old Velocipede is ready to produce a strong first-up performance when he contests the Do Do More Wine Please Pace over 2536m at Gloucester Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, following a sound performance in a 2185m trial at Pinjarra on Wednesday of last week.
Velocipede, trained by Gary Hall Snr, will be making his first appearance in a race for 32 weeks, and he looked in good shape when he dashed to the front in the trial after 450m and set a solid pace before sprinting over the final 400m in 27.7sec. to win by 2m from Sugar Shake.
A winner at four of his 17 starts, Velocipede is awkwardly drawn at barrier six on Friday night when he has the class to overcome that disadvantage.
His chief danger could be Cloud Nine, who will be having his third start after resuming from a spell for trainer-reinsman Stuart McDonald. The New Zealand-bred seven-year-old, who will start from barrier five, ran home solidly from seventh at the bell to finish fourth behind Lil Happy Fella last Friday night.
Gary Hall Jnr, who will handle Velocipede, has given punters a good lead by choosing to drive the Michael Young-trained Lucapelo ahead of the Hall senior-trained Captain Bligh in the opening event, the $21,000 The Minstrel Million Dollar Machine Pace over 1730m.
Lucapelo is ideally drawn at the No. 1 barrier, while Captain Bligh will start from the inside of the back line with Stuart McDonald in the sulky. Captain Bligh has been hanging in his recent races, but has good ability, having won at six of his past ten starts.
“Lucapelo will be hard to beat if he leads,” said Hall Jnr. “But if he doesn’t lead, he’s in trouble.” Lucapelo is a noted frontrunner who has a losing sequence of twelve which includes five seconds and a third placing. “No. 10 is a good draw from Captain Bligh, and he can’t be discounted.”
Maungatahi, who will start from barrier four for trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green, is in excellent form with wins at Northam and Narrogin at his past two starts coming after second placings behind Magnus Victor and Starlight Dream at his two previous appearances.
“This is a bit of a step up in grade for Maungatahi, but he is racing well and will give it a bit of a shake,” said Egerton-Green.
Trainer Aiden De Campo said that Sound Wave, to be driven by Trent Wheeler from barrier No. 2, was capable of a strong effort. “His fifth behind Arma Xfactor last week was a really good run, and he should run another good race this week,” said De Campo.
An interesting runner will be Victorian performer Gilligans Island, a New Zealand-bred seven-year-old, who has won at eight of his 44 starts. He will start from the No. 3 barrier and will be driven by Mitch Miller for trainer Kim Prentice.