Powerful gelding Soho Hamilton has enjoyed a solid preparation and is ready to produce a strong effort at his West Australian debut when he contests the Worldwide Printing Pace for three-year-olds at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Trainer-reinsman Kim Prentice was happy with his runaway victory in a 2150m trial at Byford last Sunday week, but said that the gelding faced a significant test from the outside barrier in the field of nine.
“He’s a nice horse; he can run, and he’s got a good ticker,” he said. “His trial was good (when he raced in the breeze for the first 300m before taking the lead), but it will be a different story on Friday from barrier nine.
“He is a high-striding horse, so we will get a good guide about how he will be able to get around Gloucester Park. We’ll just go back (at the start) and take the race the way it comes. He has a long campaign ahead of him, so I don’t want to cook him, first-up. So, we’ll be going back off the gate and I’ll put him in the race when it’s the right time. You will see the best of Soho Hamilton when he is in front and rolls along.”
Soho Hamilton, who has raced 12 times for five wins and two seconds, was most impressive in his Byford trial. After leisurely opening quarters of 33.1sec. and 30.6sec. he sped over the final 400m sections in 28.2sec. and 27.6sec. and won by 16 lengths from Hengheng.
He is a full brother to former star pacer Soho Tribeca, who raced 59 times for 21 wins, 24 placings and $1,103,854 in prizemoney. His wins included two Group 1 events at Gloucester Park, thew Golden Nugget in December 2016 and the WA Pacing Cup in January 2018.
Soho Hamilton’s victories include the Group 2 Vicbred Home Grown Classic for three-year-olds at Melton last September and the Group 3 Caduceus Club Cup at Cranbourne three starts later.
He has not been in action since March 21 this year when he raced three wide for more than a lap and then without cover before fading badly to finish last in a field of ten, 334 metres behind the winner Pacifico Dream in the Vic Sires Classic at Melton.
“He had a couple of weeks off after he arrived from Victoria,” Prentice said. “We’ve had him in work for 14 weeks and about six weeks ago we gelded him.”
Soho Hamilton will clash this week with several smart, in-form pacers, including Henrik Larsson, Medieval Man, Pocket the Cash, Caveman and Little Bit Of Fun.
Trainer-reinsman Luke Edwards has Henrik Larsson racing in wonderful form and the New Zealand-bred colt is unbeaten after three starts. He began from barrier four and dashed to the front after 200m before setting a moderate pace and sprinting over the final 400m in 26.9sec. when he won from Middlepage and General Jolt over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon. He will start from barrier four on Friday night.
Little Bit Of Fun, to be driven by Shannon Suvaljko for Wanneroo trainer Julie O’Neill, won for the seventh time from 34 starts when he set the pace and dashed over the final three quarters in 29.1sec., 28sec. and 28.1sec. to win by four and a half lengths from Anvil Rollover at a 1.56.8 rate over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday.
Pocket The Cash, prepared in Bunbury by Stephen Reed, has won at six of his past eight starts and has a career record of 28 starts for nine wins, eight seconds and three thirds. He a versatile performer and cannot be underestimated, even from out wide at barrier eight.
Medieval Man, trained and driven by Kyle Harper, shows good promise and has won at three of his past seven starts. He will begin from the No. 5 barrier, while the Mike Reed-trained Caveman, a winner at seven of his 18 starts, will begin from barrier six with Mark Reed in the sulky.
Ken Casellas