Sweet Ivy ready to strike in Christmas Gift

Punters who have marvelled at Sweet Ivy’s (Sweet Lou) sparkling late bursts to finish second at her two harness racing outings at Gloucester Park over the past two Friday nights will be looking forward to supporting her when she begins from the No. 1 barrier in race one, the $25,000 Christmas Gift Qualifier No. 3 on Friday night this week.

She has good gate speed but her main strength appears to be her powerful efforts in the concluding stages of her races.

Driven by her trainer Jocelyn Young, the five-year-old mare caught the eye with a splendid performance last Friday night when she was restrained from the No. 6 barrier and raced in tenth position before she charged forward from the rear to go seven wide on the home turn and surge home to finish a well-beaten second to Torpedo Rock, who ran home solidly after enjoying an ideal passage in the one-out and two-back position.

A week earlier Sweet Ivy began from barrier one and was beaten for early speed by Linebacker. She then trailed the frontrunning Linebacker and sprinted home fast to finish a neck second to Beat The Bank after final 400m sections of 28.7sec. and 28.4sec.

In a bid to improve her early pace Young has decided to fit sliding block blinkers on Sweet Ivy, whose main rival looms as promising Mike Reed-trained four-year-old Mikis Pride, who will begin from barrier four with Callan Suvaljko in the sulky.

Mikis Pride, a winner at five of his 19 starts, disappointed when a $3.20 favourite in a 2130m event last Friday week. He began from barrier three and dashed forward soon after the start to race in the breeze before hanging out under pressure in the final stages, finishing fourth behind Dame Valour. He drops in class this week and is capable bouncing back to his best form.

Young also has bright prospects with Skip A Beat, who will begin from the No. 6 barrier in the 2130m TABtouch Watch Race Replays Pace.

Skip A Beat, a New Zealand-bred five-year-old trained by Cameron Ross, reappeared after an absence of five and a half months at Pinjarra on Monday of last week when he raced wide for the first 400m and then set the pace before winning by a length from Beat The Bank, rating 1.56.4 over 2185m.

Young will also be looking for an improved performance from Insta Gator when he starts from the outside in the field of nine in race three in which his main rivals are expected to be Hes Never Been Beta (barrier two) and Dawson (barrier eight).

For complete race entries, click here.

by Ken Casellas, for Gloucester Park