Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Twenty-year-old Emily Suvaljko continued her remarkable run of success when she completed a double at Gloucester Park on Saturday night by driving Walsh to victory in the Happy 30TH Birthday Adam Mulroy Pace.
This followed her victory with Boom Time earlier in the night, and she ended the weekend with 109 West Australian winners this season to sit in third place on the State drivers’ premiership table — behind Gary Hall jnr (159 wins) and Chris Voak (124).
Five-year-old WA-bred gelding Walsh settled down in ninth position after starting from the outside of the back line, with Thereugo wresting the early lead from Caruba. Suvaljko then seized the initiative by sending Walsh, the $2 favourite, forward with a three-wide burst after 600m.
Walsh charged to the front, and he relished his frontrunning role as he went on to win convincingly from Regal Cheval and Valbonne. This ended a losing sequence of 12 and came after his encouraging second to stablemate The White Rabbit at Bunbury a fortnight earlier when he was having his first start for Ravenswood trainer Nathan Turvey.
“His first run for me was really good when he did all the work, and I was reasonably confident he would win tonight,” said Turvey. “He came to me because the owners thought he might benefit from a change of environment.”
Walsh, who is by Art Major, is the first foal out of the Courage Under Fire mare Dontgetmeruffled, who had 97 starts for 13 wins, 24 placings and $71,685 in prizemoney. Six of her wins were at Globe Derby Park and her final seven wins were in WA. Turvey drove her at her final five starts early in 2014 which included a close second to Mohegan Sun at Narrogin. Mohegan Sun was part-owned by Kevin Jeavons, a part-owner of Walsh.
Boom Time, trained by Ross Olivieri, has struck a purple patch, with his effortless victory over Shadow Roll in the Nova 93.7 Pace (3) following his brilliant last-to-first win eight nights earlier.
Boom Time, the $2 favourite, began from barrier five and Suvaljko sent him forward, three wide to quickly move to the breeze outside the $2.70 second fancy Shadow Roll, who had crossed Saleahs Comand to take up the running 450m after the start.
When Manning dashed forward to the breeze after about 750m Boom Time then was able to enjoy the perfect trail in the one-out, one-back position. Manning challenged Shadow Roll in the back straight in the final circuit, and Suvaljko bided her time until the final 250m when she switched Boom Time three wide. Boom Time sprinted fast to take the lead 100m from the post before racing away from his rivals.
“Boom Time showed his customary speed, and he is racing like a fresh horse after having a short break,” said Olivieri who expects the Gotta Go Cullect seven-year-old to improve on his record of 45 starts for 14 wins, 13 placings and $134,219 in stakes.