Manuka Bay aiming for four in a row
Leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond have several richly talented three-year-old fillies in their Forrestdale stable and two of them, Manuka Bay and Cinch, will clash in the ARG Rotary Club of Fremantle Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park Friday night.
Deni Roberts, the stable’s No. 1 driver, has opted to handle Manuka Bay, who has drawn out wide at barrier No. 8, but is sure to prove hard to beat after her four starts have produced a debut second followed by three impressive victories.
Kyle Symington will drive Cinch, who has drawn awkwardly at barrier six. She has had 19 starts for four wins and five placings.
Manuka Bay was most impressive winning the $35,000 Daintys Daughter Country Classic over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday of last week when she began fast from the back line and raced in the breeze for the first 400m before gaining an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, and then being shuffled back to sixth.
Roberts switched Manuka Bay three wide with about 550m to travel and the filly sustained a powerful burst to get to the front soon after rounding the home bend and going on to win comfortably from Better Together and Shimmering, rating 1.56.6.
“Her run at Pinjarra was sensational, and she is progressing really well,” said Roberts.
Manuka Bay is by American stallion Downbytheseaside, who is also the sire of the Bond-trained filly Skinny Dippin, who made a magnificent Australian debut at Gloucester Park on Monday afternoon this week.
Skinny Dippin, driven by Roberts, began from barrier two and dashed to an early lead before being challenged by another Downbytheseaside pacer, the brilliant gelding D Mac, winner of the rich Golden Slipper last September.
D Mac raced fiercely in the breeze and gave Skinny Dippin little peace. The pair raced stride for stride for much of the final lap before Skinny Dippin surged away to beat D Mac by two lengths, rating 1.54.6 after final quarters of 27.4sec. and 28.8sec.
“I didn’t expect to get away with an easy time in front because it was a bit unknown how good Skinny Dippin was,” said Roberts. “And I think that we showed that she is pretty good.
“I think that if I had tried to go a bit slower, she probably would have been a bit on the keen side. She has been quite keen at home.”
Skinny Dippin was so impressive that she is sure to be a leading candidate for the $150,000 WA Oaks on October 2, along with Manuka Bay, whose clash with several other talented fillies on Friday night should produce plenty of action.
One of Manuka Bay’s chief rivals is likely to be the Colin Brown-trained Im Category Five, who will be making her first appearance for two months. She has raced 15 times for five wins and eight placings and will be driven by Maddison Brown.
Burnham’s Call To Arms
Veteran Pinjarra trainer Ed Burnham is hoping that his nine-year-old pacer Call To Arms will prove to be a successful topical tip by winning the final event, the ARG Australasian Response Group Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The WA-bred Call To Arms is a proven frontrunner who will be suited from the No. 2 barrier in the 1730m event in which he will be driven by Mitch Miller.
Call To Arms has had 142 starts for Burnham for eleven wins and 30 placings, with his four most recent victories coming after setting the pace.
The reason why Call To Arms is a topical tip is that earlier this week a gentleman by the name of Andy Burnham answered a pressing call to arms by agreeing to take over as England’s Prime Minister after the resignation of Keir Starmer.
If Call To Arms reproduces the form he showed two starts ago when he raced three back on the pegs before running home strongly to finish third behind smart pacer Azione in a 2116m stand at Pinjarra he should prove to be a realistic winning chance on Friday night.
However, the old gelding will have to buck the odds if he is to win because he has raced 34 times at Gloucester Park without winning and managing only four placings.
It is in his favour that none of his rivals has been racing in top form, with perhaps his chief opposition coming from horses drawn wider on the track, including Hi Sugar Rush (barrier six), Rakero Raider (five) and Rellim (seven).
Hi Sugar Rush, trained and driven by Chris Voak, has been unplaced at his five appearances since he began speedily from barrier seven, burst to the front after 550m and went on to win by a length from Allwood Mach, rating 1.55.7 over 1730m at Gloucester Park on March 20.
He has not been produced since he overraced badly in the breeze before fading to finish last behind Sweet Coco over 1684m at Pinjarra on June 8. He has won at nine of his 38 starts and is capable of a bold showing.
Rakero Raider, to be driven by Liam Elliott for trainer Craig Saligari, will have admirers after impressing at Gloucester Park on Tuesday of last week when he raced in fifth position, one-out and two back, before being shuffled back to last in the field of eight in the final lap. He was still last at the 400m before being forced six wide on the home turn and sprinting fast to be a close third behind Fly To The Finish and Blaze Away.
Rellim, Good Time Louis and True Grit have shown flashes of form recently and cannot be underestimated.
A test for Bettors Pride
Boom pacer Bettors Pride will be aiming to extend his winning sequence to four when he contests the $31,000 Rotary Club of Fremantle Free-For-All over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He has had relatively comfortable runs from front-line barriers for his recent hat-trick of wins, but he faces a tougher test this week when he begins from the outside barrier (No. 3) on the back line. He has started from the second row at Gloucester Park only three times for a second, fourth and eighth placing.
Trainer Kevin Keys has Bettors Pride racing in grand style, and reinsman Shannon Suvaljko has said after the gelding’s recent victories that he was not extended and could have gone faster.
Bettors Pride was most impressive in winning the group 3 Winter Cup over 2536m last Friday week when he was untroubled to lead from barrier two and gave his rivals little hope by sprinting over the final 400m sections in 28.5sec. and 27.3sec.
A week earlier Bettors Pride enjoyed a perfect sit in the one-out, one-back position before finishing strongly to win by a neck from Petes Honour over 2130m, with final sections of 28.9sec. and 28.7sec.
This week Bettors Pride will clash with millionaire performer Mighty Ronaldo, who will be having his first start for three months.
Eight-year-old Mighty Ronaldo, to be driven by Gary Hall Jnr for trainer Justin Prentice, has a losing sequence of ten, but he showed earlier this year that he is far from a spent force with a second and a third placing behind Magnificent Storm, a second to Minstrel and an unlucky fifth behind Max Delight in the $1.2 million Nullarbor.
Mighty Ronaldo will start from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line, and Hall is expected to be anxious to settle in front of Bettors Pride.
There is abundant gate speed amongst the front-line runners, including the polemarker Hale Saint Louie, the Lindsay Harper-trained duo of Chivalry (barrier two) and Spyglass (three), Machnificent (three), Hotly Pursued (four) and Sweet Pins (five).
Hotly Pursued, trained by Murray Lindau and driven by Kylah Madden, possesses sparkling gate speed and is certainly capable of bursting to the front in the early stages.
The six-year-old, a dashing all-the-way winner over 2130m four starts ago, revealed his versatility last Friday night when he began from the outside barrier on the front line and raced in sixth position, one-out and two-back, before sprinting fast in the back straight in the final lap and hitting the front with 220m to travel and winning by just under three lengths from Machnificent, who surged home from tenth at the bell.
Im Lightning Banner, trained and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, looks hard to beat in the Cleversure Smart Insurance Pace over 2130m. He caught the eye in the Winter Cup last Friday week when he was a $41 outsider who ran home fast from sixth on the pegs at the bell to finish second to Bettors Pride. A week earlier he began from the No. 1 barrier and was an all-the-way winner over Ultimate Miki and Our Crunch Time.
