Open contest in $110,000 Group 1

Friday night’s Oberon Earthmoving Bathurst Gold Crown appears to be one of the most open Finals for some years following the seven competitive qualifying heats run last Friday night.

The all-important barrier draw took place on Monday evening for the $110,000 final and as always, there were some winners and losers.

The highest profile youngster coming into the series was the Emma Stewart-trained Petracca, who despite not having previously faced the starter, came to Bathurst with big wraps on him.

The colt started a short-priced $1.15 favourite in his heat and appeared to win with something in reserve.

Reinsman Nathan Jack allowed Petracca to cruise to the line, 17.4 metres clear of his rivals, rating 1:57.7 in the process.

But the barrier draw was not kind to the Victorian visitor when he drew barrier 11.

With the two emergencies drawn to his inside, Petracca is likely to start from the inside of the second line and it will take all of Jack’s skill to overcome that adversity.

The biggest beneficiary of the barrier draw was the Nathan Turnbull-trained and reined Better Be The Best, which was most impressive in winning last Friday night.

Better Be The Best will start from gate two and should have the speed to lead and be hard to run down.

The fastest of the qualifiers, Tardelli has come up with gate four for his trainer-driver Rickie Alchin.

He was most impressive in winning and is now likely to start favourite for the Group 1 feature.

Local owner-trainer Chris Frisby was disappointed when his two heat winners Happy Reg (gate 5) and Our Sunset Delight (gate 12) fared poorly in the draw.

Bathurst CEO Danny Dwyer said he and his Board were looking forward to the Club’s feature with the barrier draw throwing up a few curve balls, adding further intrigue to the contest.

“It is one of the most open Crown Finals that I can recall,” said Dwyer

“It has a great mix of both locals and visiting raiders with talented young horses from Bathurst coming up against Sydney and Victorian trained two year olds.

“We are expecting a big crowd trackside on Friday night, and they will be in for a real treat with 10 feature races programmed.”

To view the fields for Bathurst’s Gold Crown Finals on Friday click here.

By Michael Dumesny for HRNSW