Ace trainer Aiden De Campo will be the busiest person at Gloucester Park on Friday night when 14 pacers from his Hopeland stable will be in action, and despite Wishing Belle drawing the back line in the $215,000 Allwood Stud Farm Westbred Classic for two-year-old fillies he rates her as his best winning prospect.
“It’s hard when you have 14, and not one of them is likely to lead, to declare one with the best chance,” he said. “It’s a lot easier when you lead at Gloucester Park.”
Wishing Belle, who possesses excellent gate speed and is a talented frontrunner who has set the pace in four of her seven wins from eight starts, will begin from the No. 2 barrier on the back line and therefore will be unable to make the most of her early sparkling speed.
However, De Campo is not fazed, saying: “She will have to do some work at some stage. It’s a great bunch of fillies and there is a few on the front line who will want to get forward.
“We will play it by ear and put her into the race when the time is right. I’m sure she will run a good race. I couldn’t be happier with her, and we will see how good she is on Friday night.”
Despite her back-line draw Wishing Belle is sure to be a hot odds-on favourite, with her stablemates Altas Last (barrier nine) and El Raes Girl (inside of the back line) at handsome odds.
Wishing Belle’s only defeat was at her second start in a race when she began out wide at barrier eight and raced in the one-out, one-back position before finishing second to Ma Petite Dame (barrier four) in the $125,000 Sales Classic at Gloucester Park on February 28 this year.
Ma Petite Dame, trained by Ryan Bell and to be driven by Gary Hall jnr, will start from the No. 4 barrier on Friday night. She raced without cover before wilting to finish sixth behind Im Category Five in a qualifying heat on Tuesday of last week. She raced three back on the pegs when a well-beaten fifth behind Wishing belle in the $100,000 Diamond Classic final at her previous appearance.
“Ma Petite Dame is a tired horse and is likely to struggle,” said Bell.
Looming large as the chief danger to Wishing Belle is the Colin Brown-trained Im Category Five, who will start from the No. 3 barrier with Maddison Brown in the sulky.
Im Category Five has made a splendid start to her career, with her first seven starts producing four wins and three placings. She began from barrier three in a qualifying heat on Tuesday of last week when she dashed to the front after 200m and went on to win by a half-length from Crunchnsip, rating 1.59.4 over 2130m.
In the other heat Wishing Belle began speedily from barrier seven and set the pace before sprinting over the final 40028.9sec. and 27.8sec. and winning by 17 metres from Skyhigh Adda, who ran home strongly from seventh at the bell.
Leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond will be relying on Crunchnsip (barrier five) and Slay Queen (barrier six), with Deni Roberts choosing to drive Slay Queen, and Tom Nally being engaged for Crunchnsip.
“They are both going well but have drawn awkwardly,” said Roberts. “Slay Queen will improve on her fifth behind Wishing Belle in a heat last week.”
Leading trainer Michael Young will be looking for a solid effort from Trixie Dora, who has drawn barrier two and will be driven by Emily Suvaljko.
“Barrier two looked good until Maas Attack drew one,” said Suvaljko. Maas Attack revealed excellent gate speed when she set the pace and won from Miss Leopatra at Gloucester Park in June.
Punters should take into consideration that Wishing belle rated 1.57.9 in winning her qualifying heat last week, while the other heat winner, Im Category Five rated 1.59.4.
