Gloucester Park preview

A favourable barrier has boosted brilliant young driver Emily Suvaljko’s confidence in Savvy Bromac’s ability to turn the tables on her arch rival Born To Boogie in the $50,000 WASBA Breeders Stakes at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Savvy Bromac, prepared by Nathan Turvey, will start from the prized No. 1 barrier which should prove a major advantage over the Ross Olivieri-trained Born To Boogie, who will start out wide at barrier seven in the 2130m group 2 feature event for mares.

Born To Boogie led from the No. 3 barrier and won a 2130m event in convincing fashion from Bettor Get It On and Savvy Bromac last Friday week. Savvy Bromac started from the outside barrier in the field of nine and charged home, out four wide, from last at the bell.

Savvy Bromac has a losing sequence of seven, with Suvaljko explaining: “She has been struggling from bad barriers. She has drawn the No. 1 barrier only once (from 25 starts at Gloucester Park) and that was when she led and wasn’t pressured and won the Mares Classic (beating Born To Boogie and Balcatherine over 2536m last November).

“Two starts after that Savvy Bromac set the pace and was pressured by Balcatherine, and we got the upper hand (beating Balcatherine by a half-head at a 1.54.3 rate over 2130m).

“All the intentions on Friday night will be to lead, and I’d say Nevermindthechaos (to be driven by Gary Hall jnr from barrier three) will be putting a bit of pressure on.”

Trainer Michael Young predicts that Nevermindthechaos, a winner at four of her past six starts) will be prominent, saying: “She keeps drawing outside the better ones, and she will have to keep doing all the work again. But she will run a good race.”

Nevermindthechaos revealed typical spirit and toughness last Friday night when she moved into the breeze position 1250m from home, took the lead with 430m to travel and fought gamely when second to the brilliant Eldaytona.

Born To Boogie, who has an exceptional record in Western Australia of twelve starts for eights wins, three seconds and a fourth, will be driven for the first time by Aiden de Campo, who was engaged after Chris Lewis and Chris Lewis were unavailable under COVID health and safety protocols.

An interesting runner will be Fifty Five Reborn, who has not appeared since finishing eighth behind Nota Bene Denario 17 weeks ago. She is a smart mare who has won at 14 of her 49 starts for trainer-reinsman Colin Brown.

Fifty Five Reborn will begin from the No. 5 barrier, and Brown said he was looking for a good performance. “Racing first-up won’t matter,” he said. “She has been in work for a long time and is very fit. She has been working against Purest Silk and has been working at least as good as her.

“The award thing is that the four runners drawn inside of her have got good gate speed. We have to go forward; Fifty Five Reborn has never been a horse who comes from behind. I’ve got no option. If I go back, I can’t earn. So, I’ll be in charge of my own destiny, and if they make her work early, they’ll be working, too.”

Purest Silk, trained and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, also must come under consideration following her excellent, hard-working victory over Vivere Damore and My Prayer in the 2503m Race For Roses last Friday night. She will start from barrier six.

Baskerville trainer Ryan Bell is confident that Miss Limelight will not be out of her depth, even though she is expected to be one of the outsiders after starting from the No. 2 barrier on the back line.

Miss Limelight, to be driven by Kyle Symington, finished strongly when third behind Power And Grace and Beat City last Friday week. “She has a good draw and should race three back on the pegs,” said Bell. “Hopefully, she will get a split at some stage. She is going really well and is a definite place chance.”

Change of plans for de Campo 

Star reinsman Aiden de Campo’s plans of enjoying a relaxing evening on Friday evening changed dramatically when he arrived to drive at the Gloucester Park meeting on Tuesday night and discovered that leading reinsmen Chris Lewis and Chris Voak were in isolation this week under the COVID health and safety protocols.

“I was going to sit at home or go to the pub to watch the Dockers match on TV,” said de Campo, who was due to be in the middle of spending a 13-day suspension for causing interference in a race last Friday night.

“I then saw that Ross Olivieri had several runners on Friday night without a driver, so I contacted him and said I would be available.”

De Campo then was granted a deferment of his suspension and Olivieri engaged him to drive his five stable runners — Bettor Be Lively, Power And Grace, The Code Breaker, Born To Boogie and Yankee Lincoln. He also was nominated to drive Rabchenko and Hotfoot It.

It will be quite a unique situation for de Campo to drive Olivieri’s pacers, with the exception of The Code Breaker, for the first time. He has driven The Code Breaker once, when the gelding was trained by Michael Brennan. That was at Narrogin on April 27, 2021 when The Code Breaker finished third behind My Sweet Deal.

The best prospects of Olivieri’s runners look to be Born To Boogie in the WASBA Breeders Stakes, last-start winner Power And Grace, who will start from the No. 1 barrier in the fourth event, and Yankee Lincoln, who will start off the front in race eight, a standing-start event over 2503m.

Reed’s stars to resume

Astute trainer Mike Reed is looking forward keenly to the return to racing of high-priced New Zealand imports Ragazzo Mach and Blitzembye at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

The sky appears to be the limit for the richly talented and lightly-raced pair who have the ability to develop into leading contenders for the $125 Four-Year-Old Classic on December 2 and the $200,000 Golden Nugget a fortnight later.

“It’s good to have them back, and I’m happy with the way they’re going,” said Reed. “They have been working together and there’s not a lot between them.”

Both pacers will be handled by leading reinsman Shannon Suvaljko, who landed a double with the Reed-trained three-year-olds Dardy Boy and Hoppys Way in qualifying heats of the Pearl Classic at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night.

Ragazzo Mach, a winner at ten of his 19 starts, will line up at barrier six in the 2130m Go Ramsay’s Horse Transport Pace on Friday night. Blitzembye, a winner at ten of his 20 starts, will start from the No. 5 barrier in the 2130m Insure With PSC Bloodstock Services Pace.

Quizzed about his opinion of the two brilliant four-year-olds and which one had the best chances of winning, Reed said: I think, Ragazzo Mach. “He ran second to Ezana in a Byford trial two Sundays ago. Ezana led, and Ragazzo Mach came from behind (in the four-horse trial). It was blowing a gale and they ran home in 56.5sec.

“From barrier six on Friday night, I’ll leave the tactics up to Shannon. If the speed is on, he can sit (and run home). If not, he can make an early move. At his latest start (on February 4) he sat on the outside of the leader and won.”

Most punters are likely to consider Friday night’s event as a match race between Ragazzo Mach and trainer Michael Young’s smart five-year-old Beat City, who has resumed after a spell in fine style with a first-up half-head second to Power And Grace, followed by an impressive victory over Fanci A Dance and Classic Choice last Friday night when he dashed to the lead after 600m and sprinted the final 800m in 56.2sec. to score at a 1.56.3 rate over 2130m.

“I expect Beat City (to be driven by Gary Hall jnr) to lead and win,” said Young. “Ragazzo Mach is a good horse, but he is first-up and will have to do a bit of work at some stage. I think we can control the race and beat him.”

Reed said that Blitzembye had performed soundly at two recent Byford trials, but was likely to be tested first-up, particularly by the Greg and Skye Bond-trained five-year-old Ideal Agent, who notched his eighth win from his past twelve starts when he scored another brilliant win last Friday night.

Arma Einstein is stronger

Arma Einstein is the youngest runner in the 2130m Budget Stockfeeds In Oakford Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night and ace trainer-reinsman Colin Brown is predicting a strong performance from the speedy four-year-old, whose 50 starts have produced ten wins and 22 placings.

“He went super last Friday night (when he finished fourth behind Ima Rockabilly Rebel after being hampered for room and momentarily locking wheels in the home straight),” said Brown.

That was Arma Einstein’s second run in the space of five days, following his second to Lord Rosco at Pinjarra the previous Monday.

“I thought that he pulled up big after his Pinjarra run, and that’s why I buttered him up,” said Brown. “Normally, I don’t do it. But we have got him a lot stronger. Obviously, Distinguished Taste from barrier one will lead, and it might by the time to roll the dice, go forward and see if we can find a spot. We will be going forward to make our own luck.”

Distinguished Taste, trained in Bunbury by John Graham, was a smart all-the-way 2130m winner over Sidstrepo at Gloucester Park two starts ago before he set a fast pace and faded to seventh behind Ima Rockabilly Rebel over the same journey last Friday week.

“Initially, I was disappointed with his last-start effort,” said Emily Suvaljko. “But when I looked at the times, I discovered that he had not previously gone that quick, even though he actually felt he was going real slow.

“The plan will be to lead, but I think I will be taking an extra double grip on him this week and we won’t be going as fast.”

The main dangers to Distinguished Taste and Arma Einstein are expected to be Will I Rocknroll (barrier seven) and Valentines Brook (eight). Will I Rocknroll caught the eye last Friday night when he was eighth at the bell before flashing home with a late burst to finish fourth behind Beat City, Fanci A Dance and Classic Choice.

Suvaljko also is upbeat about the prospects of Twobob Cracker, who will start from the inside of the front line in the Hamilton Content Creators Handicap, a standing-start event over 2503m.

“Twobob Cracker loves the distance and if he leads, he loves to roll along and will give the backmarkers something to chase,” she said.

Glenledi Chief, trained by Greg and Skye Bond and to be handled by Ryan Warwick, will start off the 20m mark. He is a standing-start specialist who was most impressive in scoring a runaway victory in a 2631m stand at Pinjarra last Monday week after starting off the back mark of 50m.

Evergreen ten-year-old Vultan Tin gets a chance to make amends for his disappointing ninth behind Texas Tiger over 2536m last Friday week when he starts from the No. 1 barrier in the 2536m Premium Quality Products From Australian Premium Feeds Pace.

“He wasn’t himself and he didn’t turn up to race,” said reinsman Mitch Miller. “I’m sure he will be much better this week when it will be my aim to lead.”

Vultan Tin’s clash with To Fast To Serious and Double Up should provide plenty of action. To Fast To Serious will pay to follow after fast-finishing placings at his past two appearances.

He was sixth with 350m to travel before running home strong, out five wide, to finish a very close third behind Double Up and Texas Tiger last Friday night. Double Up maintained his dashing form when he raced without cover over the final 1300m before getting up in the final stride to beat the pacemaker Texas Tiger.

Byford trainer Katja Warwick holds a strong hand in the final event, the 2130m Fly Like An Eagle Pace, with two of the six runners, Juggernaut (Shannon Suvaljko) and All Is Well (Emily Suvaljko). Both two-year-olds have good gate speed and is a winner, with Juggernaut leading and beating Star Lavra in February, and All Is Well setting the pace and defeating Rockokoko at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon.

Trainer-reinsman Ryan Bell will drive Lucapelo from barrier two. Lucapelo, a Pinjarra winner on debut in February, will be having his first start for almost three months, but impressed in a 1684m trial at Pinjarra three Wednesdays ago when he set the pace and was not extended in winning narrowly from Rockokoko.

“Lucapelo will be trying for the front, and keeping it,” said Bell. “He is no star but is no slouch, either.”

To view the fields for Gloucester Park on Friday click here.

By Ken Casellas for Gloucester Park