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Ken Casellas | Photo: Gloucester Park Harness Racing

Ace reinsman Shannon Suvaljko, fresh from landing a double on Tuesday evening, will be busy with nine drives at Gloucester Park on Friday night — and he predicts that his best winning prospect will be Whos The Dad, who will start from the No. 1 barrier in the $20,250 Allwood Stud For All Your Breeding Requirements Pace.

“He won last Friday week, coming from behind, and this week I’ll be trying to lead all the way,” he said. “He has good gate speed and is going really well.”

Three-year-old Whos The Dad, trained by Kevin Charles, notched his fifth win from 26 starts when he began from the inside of the back line and raced three back on the pegs in fifth position before finishing with a powerful burst to win by two lengths from the favourite and pacemaker Paul Edward last Friday week when he rated 1.57.6 over 2130m.

Suvaljko has given punters a valuable lead by opting to drive Whos The Dad in preference to the Mike Reed-trained pair of Dardy Boy and Hoppys Way, colts he had driven to easy victories at their most recent starts.

Dardy Boy will start from barrier five and will be handled by Ryan Warwick, while Gary Hall Jnr will drive Hoppys Way from the outside barrier in the field of eight three-year-olds. Toughest for Whos The Dad to beat this week could be Goodfellaz, Been Scootin and Arma Xfactor.

Goodfellaz, trained by Debra Lewis and to be driven by her husband Chris, is awkwardly drawn at barrier seven. He raced without cover early and then in the one-out, one-back position before finishing third behind Whos The Dad at his latest appearance. That followed two Pinjarra wins and a Gloucester Park second to Jaxon Morgan at his first three starts.

Been Scootin, owned and trained by Ray Jones, will be driven by Kyle Harper and is favourably drawn at barrier two. He followed a good win at Bunbury with a third placing behind Rambo Rabbit on the same track when he worked hard in the breeze for much of the way.

Arma Xfactor, trained and driven by Colin Brown, has won at three of his ten starts, and is handily drawn at barrier three. He raced wide early and then in the breeze before wilting to Whos The Dad two Fridays ago.

Apart from Whos The Dad, Suvaljko has good claims with Ragazzo Mach (race three), Flying Rumour (race eight) and Cabsav (race 11).

Ragazzo Mach, trained by Mike Reed, has been placed at three of his four starts since resuming from a spell, and from barrier two in the 2130m The Trots WA Owners Appreciation Pace, Suvaljko is confident of success.

“Ragazzo Mach is getting closer (to another win),” said Suvaljko. “I don’t know whether Dominus Factum (barrier one) will hold up. I’ll drive Ragazzo Mach forward early. He could sit in the breeze and still be hard to beat. Last week, we sat up (and finished sixth behind Lavra Joe), but this week I will drive him more positively.”

Flying Rumour and Cabsav are stablemates of Ragazzo Mach and are expected to be solidly supported.

Flying Rumour, who will start from the No. 4 barrier in the $25,000 Westsired Pace for three-year-old colts and geldings, was driven by Gary Hall Jnr when he made a winning debut at Northam three months ago. He began from barrier five, set the pace and won by a neck at a 1.59.8 rate over 2190m. He has not raced since then.

“This will be s rise in grade for Flying Rumour, and he might need a bit of luck,” said Suvaljko. The race appears to be an extremely open affair, with Infinite Sign likely to be strongly supported, despite starting from the outside (barrier three) on the back line.

Infinite Sign, trained by Greg and Skye Bond and to be driven by Ryan Warwick, has won at four of his 12 starts, with his most recent success being three starts ago when he led from barrier six and easily beat Hoppys Way and Seven No Trumps.

Seven No Trumps will be driven by Hall for trainer Peter Tilbrook in Friday night’s race in which he will start from barrier two on the back line. He has won at five of his 32 starts, and his past couple of efforts have been encouraging.