Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Brilliant but enigmatic pacer Wildwest will make a surprise and unheralded return to racing after a 19-week absence when he begins from the No. 2 barrier in the $50,000 Summit Bloodstock Navy Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night when his band of owners will be cheering for him and hoping he will end star pacer Magnificent Storm’s run of great victories at his past four starts.
Wildwest is prepared by Gary Hall Snr, who also trains smart in-form pacers Diego (barrier one), Gambit (barrier three) and Jumpingjackmac (barrier nine). Hall is seeking to win the Group 2 Navy Cup for a record seven times.
Gary Hall Jnr, who drove Jumpingjackmac to a thrilling victory over Gambit in a 2536m Free-For-All last Friday night, has given punters a significant lead by choosing to drive the lightly-raced Wildwest.
“Wildwest is going super,” said Hall Jnr. “If he had drawn one, he probably would have gone close.”
Wildwest, a New Zealand-bred six-year-old, is at his best when he leads or races on the pegs at Gloucester Park. But he has always had problems in negotiating his way around the 804m circuit when he invariably hangs down.
This will be Wildwest’s first appearance in Western Australia since he was a $99.50 outsider who came from tenth at the bell with a freak inside run to snatch a dramatic last-stride victory in a three-way photo finish with Miracle Moose and Chicago Bull on February 4 this year in the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup.
He then travelled to Sydney where he had three starts at Menangle in May and June for two ninth placings and a well-beaten third before returning to WA.
Wildwest won at his only New Zealand start before coming to WA when Hall Jnr drove him to victory at his first seven starts in the State. Hall has driven Wildwest at 17 of his 31 starts for ten wins and two seconds.
Diego, who won by a head from Jumpingjackmac two starts ago, will be handled by Maddison Brown, Stuart McDonald will drive Gambit, who has finished second at five of his past seven starts, and Deni Roberts will drive Jumpingjackmac.
The Navy Cup was first run in 1965, and Magnificent Storm is seeking to become only the second multiple winner of the race which was won by Chicago Bull in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
Magnificent Storm is in superb form, and he notched his fourth win in succession and his 25TH win from 33 starts when he won a 2130m Free-For-All last Friday week after overcoming the disadvantage of starting from the outside (barrier nine) of the front line.
He raced three wide for the first 300m and was restrained to seventh, one-out and three back, before Aldo Cortopassi sent him forward, three wide, with 1350m to travel to move to the breeze. He took a narrow lead at the 220m and won convincingly from the pacemaking Jumpingjackmac.
Magnificent Storm fared poorly in the random draw for Friday night’s race and faces a stern test from barrier No. 7. “It’s not the ideal draw, but it’s what it is,” said Cortopassi.
Trainer Ray Williams admitted that the wide draw made things difficult for Magnificent Storm, saying: “It makes it awkward with Hall’s good horses and Lavra Joe drawn inside Magnificent Storm.
“It would be nice to get a spot early. I’d say we will be going out and hopefully getting a spot. He has pulled up good since his latest win, and his work has been good. The only doubt is the barrier.
“He is not going east for the Interdominion Championship series (in Victoria in November and December), and he has been scratched. The Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup are good races, and everybody who comes from Perth wants to win these main races. If we can do that with Magnificent Storm, I’d be pretty happy.”
Rob Tomlison’s Oz-West Pacing is the major shareholder in Magnificent Storm, and Oz-West Pacing also will be represented in the Navy Cup by To Fast To Serious, who will start from the outside of the back line.
To Fast To Serious, trained and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, impressed with his first-up effort behind Magnificent Storm last Friday week when he challenged unsuccessfully for the early lead and then enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before running home strongly to finish third.
“With the right run I can see him playing a part in the finish,” said Egerton-Green. “His work has been good. I’ve been beaching him at the weekends and that seems to have changed his mindset a little bit.”