Much water has flowed under the bridge since Mike Reed trained and drove Manageable to victory in the Four-Year-Old Classic in 1988.
Twenty-two years later Reed prepared Bonavista Bay to win this classic in 2010, and now he has high hopes that Bettors Pride will give him his third win by proving too strong for his eleven rivals in the $125,000 Pensamarr Four-Year-Old Classic at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Bettors Pride will be handled by star reinsman Shannon Suvaljko and is favourably drawn at the No. 2 barrier in the 2130m feature event.
The 70-year-old Reed and Suvaljko went close to winning this race two years ago when Hoppys Way began from barrier one and set the pace before being overhauled in the final stride by Wonderful To Fly, who scored by a half-head.
Reed had three runners in the 2019 Four-Year-Old Classic when Suvaljko drove the $2.90 second fancy Gran Chico into sixth place, Michael Grantham drove the $2.65 favourite Bletchley Park, who set the pace before wilting to eighth, and Valbonne ($126) was seventh with Ryan Warwick in the sulky.
The 2019 event was a thrilling affair, with Shockwave ($10) and Sangue Reale ($71) being locked together in a titanic struggle in the home straight, with Shockwave gaining the verdict by a short half-head before he was relegated to second after a successful protest.
Bettors Pride has won at seven of his 14 starts, and he is sure to have derived benefit from his effort in a Golden Nugget prelude last Friday night when he began from barrier six and took the lead after 150m before he was placed under considerable pressure with about 1300m to travel when Franco Motu surged forward to get three-quarters of a length in front.
Bettors Pride withstood the challenge and then did not have much peace in front before he was passed on the home turn by Tualou, who went on to win in fine style from Im Lightning Banner and Alta Tribute. Bettors Pride faded to finish sixth.
That was Bettors Pride’s first outing for a month, following a solid finishing third behind Sweet Vivienne and a first-up win over Cordero in moderate company.
Im Lightning Banner, trained and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, will have admirers after his sound effort last Friday night. Egerton-Green is sure to use the horse’s good gate speed from the coveted No. 1 barrier when he is likely to have the option of holding the lead or taking a sit.
One of the major fancies is the New Zealand-bred Justcallmemiki, who has impressed greatly with ten wins from 20 starts. He is certainly capable of overcoming the disadvantage of beginning from the outside barrier (No. 3) on the back line.
Justcallmemiki, prepared by champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, has resumed after a winter spell in grand style with a brilliant all-the-way win over Waverider and Franco Motu in the Pinjarra Four-Year-Old Classic and a last-start head second to Copy Cat Queen in the 2130m group 3 Four-Year-Old Championship last Friday week.
He was most unlucky at his latest appearance when he began from the inside of the back line and was badly hampered for room in the final circuit before eventually getting clear 120m from home and sprinting strongly when the final 400m sections were covered in 28sec. and 27.7sec.
“It’s not a great draw on Friday night,” said Justcallmemiki’s driver Deni Roberts. “Hopefully, there is speed on to enable us to get into it at some stage.”
The Bond camp also has an excellent second string in the speedy Golden Lode, whose 37 starts have produced eleven wins, nine seconds and five thirds. He is drawn to get a soft run after starting from the inside of the back line. He will be driven for the first time by champion reinsman Chris Lewis, who has won this classic five times --- scoring with Village Kid (1984), Tamai Boy (1985), Vero Prince (1986), Flashing Star (1994) and Saab (1998).
The Bonds have won the classic with Ana Malak in 2018, and they prepared Lusaka when Egerton-Green drove him into second place behind Mister Smartee last year.
Outstanding trainer Aiden De Campo has two runners in Friday night’s race, and he has chosen to drive Copy Cat Queen ahead of Menemsha, who will start from barrier three with Joey Suvaljko in the sulky.
Copy Cat Queen is in dazzling form and has won at seven of her ten starts this season, including her last-start all-the-way win over Justcallmemiki. She faces a stern test from the outside of the front line.
“Copy Cat Queen will have to go back from that draw,” said De Campo. “And Menemsha probably will go forward. They worked very well this morning (Tuesday) when Menemsha seemed to be back to his best.” De Campo’s best performance in this classic was his second behind Ultimate Machete with Handsandwheels in 2017.
Master trainer Gary Hall snr has won the Four-Year-Old Classic a record seven times, scoring with Love Of Glory (1990), The Falcon Strike (2001), Im Themightyquinn (2008), Waylade (2014), Beaudiene Boaz (2015), Chicago Bull (2017) and Mister Smartee (2024).
This year Hall will be relying on Alta Tribute (Maddison Brown; barrier five) and Franco Motu (Stuart McDonald; barrier four). McDonald drove the Hall-trained Jumpingjackmac when that pacer finished second to Pinny Tiger (Trent Wheeler) in 2022. Wheeler has been engaged to drive the Reed-trained mare Lion Queen, who is awkwardly drawn at barrier six.
