Star mare Aardiebytheseaside faced a difficult assignment at her first appearance for twelve weeks when she lined up on the outside at barrier nine on the front line in the $27,000 Book Into The Taste of WA Pace over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
But, yet again, she proved her class with an outstanding victory, showing that she has excellent prospects of winning the $100,000 Norms Daughter Classic on November 7 and the $150,000 Mares Classic a fortnight later.
She finished fifth behind Steno in last year’s Norms Daughter Classic before winning the Mares Classic from Wonderful To Fly and Steno.
Aardiebytheseaside was the $3.10 favourite, and her driver Deni Roberts did not bustle her early and was content to settle down in tenth position. Rebline ($31) overhauled Pushbutton Rock to take the lead after 650m before $4.80 chance Water Lou assumed control with 950m to travel.
Aardiebytheseaside was seventh at the bell before Roberts sent her forward 650m from home, and the powerful mare charged to the front at the 120m mark and went on to win by a length from $20 chance Dame Valour, with Water Lou hanging on to finish third, a half-head in front of her stablemate and $3.30 second fancy Lion Queen, who raced wide early and then in the breeze.
“The early speed (with opening quarters of 28.7sec. and 29.1sec.) probably played in our favour,” said Roberts. “But Aardiebytheseaside still had to follow the speed and make that run down the back. She finished with a bit of petrol left in the tank.
“We had a bit of trouble with her tractability early on, so we then couldn’t really come from behind. She is now pacing really well and driving fairly straight. So, it’s good to be able to drive her in a lot of different ways.”
Aardiebytheseaside, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, boasts a splendid record of 41 starts for 21 wins, eleven placings and stakes of $576,977.
Friday night’s ten-event program was rounded out with the wins of Hotly Pursued and Illawong Mustang in the final two events.
Hotly Pursued, a $4.30 chance trained by Murray Lindau and driven by Kyle Harper, enjoyed an ideal passage in the one-out, one-back position before getting to the front 300m from home and winning the 2130m Book Your Event Pace by two lengths from the pacemaker Louie Dior ($4.40).
Illawong Mustang, having his third start for Byford trainer Craig Hynam, was a $59.80 outsider from the No. 2 barrier in the $27,000 Taste Of WA Pace over 2130m. Shannon Suvaljko was driving him for the first time in what was his 136TH start, and the eight-year-old trailed the pacemaker Hale Saint Louie ($5) before getting clear 110m from the post and surging home to get up and win by a head.
It was an excellent result for Illawong Mustang’s owners Samantha McIntyre and Kaden Elliott, who purchased the Mach Three gelding for $4000 recently, with the proviso of a $2000 return to the former owners from the pacer’s first city win. Illawong Mustang’s three runs for his new owners earned them $16,888.
