Ballarat Cup is no problem for Kanena Provlima

NSW pacer Kanena Provlima (A Rocknroll Dance) made amends for his Shepparton Cup defeat last week when he led all the way in the $100,000 Decoglaze Ballarat Pacing Cup.

The medium of a betting plunge ($19 into $4), Kanena Provlima found the early lead and with no mid race pressure evident harness racing driver David Moran was allowed to slow the tempo in a pedestrian 64.5 first half of the last mile.

Kate Gath opted to ease out of the early speed on the $3.30 favorite Catch A Wave from a wide front row draw and settled towards the rear of the field.

Mach Dan made an early move to loop the field and sit parked outside Kanena Provlima with Catch A Wave making its move three wide without cover with 800 metres to travel.

Catch A Wave appeared to be travelling well on the home turn however Kanena Provlima appreciated having all the favors reeling off a 26 second last 400 metres to score comfortably from Beyond Delight and Cya Art.

SENSATIONAL! 🏆
Congratulations to driver David Moran and trainer KerryAnn Morris on winning the Decoglaze Ballarat Pacing Cup with Kanena Provlima. pic.twitter.com/33q5rY3RBj

— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) January 20, 2024

The winner returned a mile rate of 1:59.8 which is five seconds outside the track record.

Kanena Provlima is trained by KerryAnn Morris who drove the stable mate Pete Said So which finished sixth.

“Normally Rob (Morris) and Josh (Gallagher) do the driving and I’m on the sidelines but they stayed at home, so I was behind Pete Said So who still ran a really good race,” Morris said.

“We’ve been thrilled with him – his run last week at Shepparton was really good and these two horses have done a fair bit of travelling but they seem to keep popping up and getting better,” he said.

Kanena Provlima is owned by Ben Settree from the Bathurst based Brooklyn Lodge Standardbreds.

“Ben contacted us to see whether we wanted to take the horse at Menangle and we’re glad he did because he’s been a horse who has just got better with racing and he obviously likes our style of training,” she said.

Morris said both Kanena Provlima and Pete Said So will be nominated for the Group 1 Hunter Cup at Melton in a fortnight.

For complete race results, click here.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink