Simba Bromac is ready

Excellent performances at his past two starts have convinced trainer-reinsman Nathan Turvey that Simba Bromac will prove hard to beat in the $25,000 Media Guild Cup over 2536m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

The New Zealand-bred seven-year-old is favourably drawn at barrier two in a feature event of many chances and Turvey declared: “We’ll have a go at leading and I think he can win.

“I have been impressed with his past two runs (third to Our Jimmy Johnstone in the 2536m Brennan Memorial and fifth behind Our Corelli in the 2130m Navy Cup) and those two runs on the past two Fridays showed that he should be ready to win.

“Simba Bromac led and won over 2130m three starts ago, but I wasn’t impressed with him, so I tried to work out what was wrong. He didn’t race for six weeks and then his latest two runs have been very good, even better than his winning effort.

“I didn’t want to give him a gut-buster first-up, so I drove him on the cold side (when he was seventh at the bell and ran home strongly on the inside to be third) and last week he came from last (12th) at the 300m and finished fifth (out six wide) behind Our Corelli. If we want to play a part at Christmas (in the Fremantle and WA Pacing Cups) he should be able to be hard to beat on Friday night.”

Simba Bromac, a winner of 21 races from 44 starts for his owner, West Australian businessman Karl Deiley, has blossomed under Turvey’s care, with 20 wins and ten placings from 38 WA starts after her raced six times in Victoria for just one win (by a half-head in a $7000 three-year-old event at Cobram in February 2017.

The son of Canadian sire Art Official, Simba Bromac is bred to be a good winner. He is out of unraced Live Or Die mare Sabrina Bromac and is a half-brother to eight winners of 151 races, including Smudge Bromac (36 wins, 50 placings and stakes of $460,958), Ardle McArdle (28 wins, 69 placings and $280,014) and Slick Bromac (33 wins, 39 placings and $256,107).

Simba Bromac is sure to receive strong opposition from King of Swing (barrier three) and Motu Premier (barrier four).

Champion trainer Gary Hall snr said that King of Swing’s sixth behind Our Corelli last week was a good run. “He ran home strongly, and if he happens to lead this Friday night, he’ll win for sure. And if he gets a sit just off the pace, he might have some hope. But, generally speaking he’s a frontrunner.”

King of Swing’s reinsman Gary Hall jnr has won the Media Guild Cup with The Falcon Strike (2003), Kotare Flame (2007), Washakie (2008) and Tuxedo Tour (2015).

King of Swing,  winner of the 2018 WA Derby, was the 2/1 on favourite from barrier one in last year’s Media Guild Cup when he set a solid pace and finished a half-head second to 15/2 chance Motu Premier, who started from the No. 5 barrier and after racing wide early, worked hard in the breeze.

Motu Premier, trained by Ross Olivieri, will again be handled by Hall of Fame driver Chris Lewis, who has won the Media Guild Cup behind Village Kid (1988 and 1991), Paly (2002), Has The Answers (2010) and Motu Premier (2018).

“Here we go again, and, yes, he can win again,” said Olivieri. “I was delighted with his first-up run (fifth behind Our Jimmy Johnstone last Friday week). And he has gone forward since then.”

Kyle Harper has driven Waylade in his four starts after resuming from a six-month absence and said that he has been heartened by the nine-year-old’s solid efforts which included a first-up third behind Tommy Be Good and a fourth behind Vampiro.

Waylade, prepared by Caris Hamilton-Smith, has drawn the prized No. 1 barrier. He has a losing sequence of 23 and has not been successful since finishing strongly to beat Beaudiene Boaz in the Brennan memorial in November 2016.

“Caris has done a terrific job with him and he is racing better than his form reads,” Harper said. “He just hasn’t had a lot of luck. Barrier one definitely suits him, and without yet talking to Caris, I’ll probably like to race on the leader’s back.

“But it is hard to say who will be the early leader Simba Bromac or King of Swing or maybe Motu Premier. Who knows? I can see that Waylade is a good each-way chance. He’s got enough speed to hold up and what horse to sit behind.”   

Henley Brook trainer Mike Reed will be pinning his faith on Kiwi Legend, who will be making his first appearance for six weeks and faces a stern test from the outside barrier in the field of eight. Reed, who prepared Kiwi Legend for ten wins in 2015-16-17, has taken over the preparation of the eight-year-old from his son Stephen, who is taking a break from the sport because of heavy work commitments as an engineer in Bunbury.

“Kiwi Legend’s work has been really good, but it’s going to be hard from the outside barrier,” he said.

Ken Casellas