Brown takes his pick in Group 3

Ace harness racing trainer-reinsman Colin Brown holds a powerful hand with three smart mares in the $30,000 Barker Whittle Harry Capararo Westbred Pace for four and five-year-old mares, and he has given punters a valuable lead by choosing to drive Fifty Five Reborn from an awkward barrier at No. 7 in the Group 3 event at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Fifty Five Reborn, a winner at 10 of her 35 starts, will be resuming after a 10-week absence, whereas her stablemates Altas Angel and Shirmaya have been racing in excellent form in recent weeks.

“Fifty Five Reborn is the quality mare of the three and she will certainly work forward,” Brown said. “She has had a break and been freshened up and has been working extremely well.

“I had a couple of days off last week when Dylan (Egerton-Green) hoppled her for a track workout with Patrickthepiranha on the Jandakot track. She performed very well, and Dylan said that she did not need to go to trials and was fit and ready to race this week.”

Fifty Five Reborn possesses excellent gate speed and it will come as no surprise if Brown makes a bold bid to send her to an early lead. Her most recent wins were when she led from barriers one and two and won over 2536m at Gloucester Park early this year.

At her most recent appearance, Fifty Five Reborn began speedily from barrier seven, raced four wide for the first 400m and then in the breeze outside Sweet Maddison before getting to the front 300m from home and wilting in the home straight to finish ninth behind Wainui Creek in the 2536m Empress Stakes on March 26.

A week before that Fifty Five Reborn went forward from the No. 8 barrier and had a tough run in the breeze before finishing a splendid half-length second to the pacemaker Rock Me Over.

Altas Angel is handily drawn at barrier three on Friday night and will be driven by Egerton-Green, and Bailey McDonough will handle and Shirmaya from the prized No. 1 barrier.

Altas Angel ran an impressive trial at Byford on Sunday morning when she led for the first 550m before trailing the pacemaker To Fast To Serious and fighting on to finish second, a length behind that talented pacer, who dashed over the final 400m in 27.7sec.

Altas Angel was driven by Brown at her latest appearance, at Pinjarra on Monday of last week when she raced three back on the pegs before she ran out about 900m from home and locked wheels with Sheez Our Hope, causing both mares to be retired from the race which was won by Booraa.

“Altas Angel normally gets down the track a little bit, but at Pinjarra she bored up the track and disgraced herself,” Brown said. “We have made significant gear changes, and Dylan was very happy with her trial on Sunday when he didn’t extend her.

“If you take away her last start, she is probably in career-best form. We’ve always had little problems steering her and now she’s going dead straight. She is definitely on the improve.

“I apologised to Mike (Cornwall, Sheez Our Hope’s owner-trainer) for causing the interference at Pinjarra. I don’t like to see that happen.”

Kyle Harper, who will again handle Sheez Our Hope on Friday night from barrier two on the back line, said it was an unfortunate incident which knocked Sheez Our Hope out of the race at Pinjarra.

“I was about half a second away from pulling her out and letting her go whoosh,” he said. “It’s always easy to sit back and say she would have won, but I would say that she would have fought out the finish with Booraa and gone close to winning. If she puts her best foot forward on Friday night, she’s a definite winning chance.”

Shirmaya is lightly raced and has raced keenly at her three outings since resuming after a 13-month absence. She finished strongly to win easily by five lengths from Farriers Trouble two starts ago.

Delightfulreaction is the most experienced runner in Friday night’s event and is capable of a strong showing for trainer-reinsman Aiden de Campo despite starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line. Her 92 starts have produced 14 wins, 18 seconds and ten thirds.

Adda Tarantella, trained and driven by Corey Peterson, has a modest winning record of just nine per cent, but she caught the eye at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night when she finished powerfully from ninth at the bell to be third behind Middlepage and Heez Our Perseus. She is favourably drawn at barrier two.