Red ready to tackle Menangle in $210,000 feature

Wonder mare Ladies In Red faces one of her biggest tests on a few levels in harness racing’s $210,000 Group 1 Australian Gold final at Menangle on Saturday night. Click here to view fields.

Remarkably, it will be the first time the four-year-old has raced outside of her home state of Victoria.

And she’s been handed a “visitor’s draw” with gate 10, meaning she will start from second outside when emergency Irakleia (gate eight) comes out.

“It’s just a number,” said driver Nathan Jack about the wide draw. “I’m just putting my faith in her, I think she’s earned that.

“I haven’t even thought about tactics or what I’ll do at the start.

“She just knows how to win, she finds a way. As I’ve said before, she does the impossible. That’s what makes her so great.”

Jack drove Ladies In Red for the first time in a race when she won her Australian Gold heat at Ballarat last Wednesday night.

The pair made light work of a back row draw to whiz around and find the lead early and totally control the race.

“She probably felt sharper in that last trial I drove her in compared to the race the other night,” Jack said.

Jack sought the opinion of Ladies In Red’s regular driver David Moran, who is sidelined by suspension, after the win.

“He told me she can get like that in front, only do what she has to do,” Jack said. “’Sal’ (Moran) said she’s a much better chaser and that’s how most of her best wins have come.”

Ladies In Red boasts a staggering 18 wins from just 21 starts and she’s finished second in the other three runs.

As has often been the case, Ladies In Red’s major dangers look to be her Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin-trained stablemates Tough Tilly (gate seven) and Joanna (four).

“Tough Tilly is the interesting one,” Jack said. “It’s been a bit hard to get a line on her. She hit the line well in the Geelong trial and again in the heat (third to Ladies In Red) last week, but she’s had easy runs.”

Stewart and Tonkin also have a strong hand – Beyond Delight (gate nine) and Act Now (12) – in the $210,000 APG final for four-year-old entires and geldings at the same meeting.

The most interesting runner is WA raider Mighty Ronaldo, who has gate 10 for top young WA trainer Justin Prentice.

In a big vote of confidence, WA’s champion driver Gary Hall Jr is making the trip from Perth to Sydney for the drive.

The other major player is Ideal Dan, who has gate three and is unbeaten in five runs since moving from Victoria to Jason Grimson’s Menangle stables.

Grimson is fresh from beating the Kiwis on their own patch with his stable star Majestic Cruiser in last Friday night’s Group 1 Messenger.

By Adam Hamilton