Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Ace trainer Kim Prentice was left scratching his head after Soho The Real Deal, the hot $1.40 favourite in the 2130m Free Entry Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, had set the pace and scrambled to an unconvincing victory.
Driven by Mitch Miller, Soho The Real Deal began from the No. 3 barrier and took the lead after 200m, and after a smart lead time of 36.2sec. he ran reasonably comfortable quarters of 30.6sec., 29.2sec., 29sec. and 29.9sec. before holding on grimly to beat $9 chance Major Miki Whitby by a half-neck, rating 1.57.
“He disappointed me,” said Prentice. “I thought that he was way better than that and I expected him to win a lot more convincingly. His heart rate was a bit high after working during the week.
“Maybe it is a training fault; we will just have to see. We have been hoping that he was going to be up to Golden Nugget standard but on tonight’s showing he will need to improve a hell of a lot.”
Soho The Real Deal was making his first Gloucester Park appearance after racing out wide and winning a 1140m Dash For Cash event at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park at his WA debut 13 nights earlier.
“He felt super in the first lap,” said Miller. “Maybe he wasn’t expecting to run another lap tonight following his Bunbury win in a one-lap dash. He couldn’t have been more impressive than he was at Bunbury.”
Soho The Real Deal is by former star millionaire pacer Soho Tribeca, who was trained and driven by Prentice for several of his 21 victories, including the 2016 Golden Nugget (beating Nathans Courage and Chicago Bull) and the 2018 WA Pacing Cup (beating Chicago Bull).
Soho The Real Deal’s dam Soho Gloria Jane (by Somebeachsomewhere) won once from 13 starts as a two and three-year-old in Victoria, while her elder half-brother Jilliby Kung Fu was an outstanding performer who raced 47 times for 19 wins, 15 placings and $579,088, with his major victory being the Chariots Of Fire at Menangle in February 2018.
Soho The Real Deal has won at five of his 16 starts in New South Wales and at two of his 16 Victorian appearances — and after two wins from two starts in WA he has earned $94,691.
Ryan Warwick wasn’t confident after Loch Tay’s unimpressive pre-race preliminary and was relieved when the Mike Williams-trained mare settled down, set the pace and held on to win the $30,000 Harry Capararo Westbred Pace for four and five-year-old mares by a half-head from the $7 chance Delulu, who finished strongly from seventh at the bell.
“She gets into moods and tonight it probably was the worst she has ever warmed up,” said Warwick. “I just had to get her to the first corner in front, and when she gets there her mood dictates how she performs. She is only a tiny little thing, and you could say she is not much good. But she tries really hard and does a really good job.”