Change of tactics for Copy Cat Queen
Brilliant sit-sprinter Copy Cat Queen will be seen in a vastly different role at Gloucester Park on Friday night when her trainer Aiden De Campo plans to give the five-year-old the task of setting the pace and winning the $50,000 The Schrader Pace for mares over 2130m.
At her second appearance after a winter spell Copy Cat Queen produced a dazzling performance to charge home from eighth with 350m to travel and out five wide on the home bend to win at a 1.54.6 rate over 2130m last Friday night.
“I will probably give her a different role this week by trying to lead with her, and if so, she should be very hard to beat,” said De Campo.
“She is not accustomed to leading in her races, but she led and won the Four-Year-Old Championship last year. There is a bit of speed to her outside, with Sugar Delight and Delightful Peg. The No. 2 draw is probably better than starting from barrier one, and from there Copy Cat Queen should be able to muster a bit.”
The most recent time when Copy Cat Queen set the pace was twelve starts ago when she began from the No. 1 barrier in the group 3 Four-Year-Old Championship on October 10 last year.
She withstood an early challenge from Im Lightning Banner, set a brisk pace and sprinted over the final 400m sections in 28sec. and 27.7sec. and rated 1.55.4 in beating Justcallmemiki by a head. This was an outstanding performance by the only mare in the field which included Alta Tribute, Golden Lode, Sweet Pins, Opal Hunter, Franco Motu and Waverider.
Copy Cat Queen beat Delightful Peg by a metre last Friday night when that mare, who raced in fifth position, three back on the pegs, was eased off the pegs with 500m to travel but was blocked for a clear run until just before the home turn where she was switched five wide and flew home.
Delightful Peg will begin from the No. 5 barrier this week, thus giving Copy Cat Queen a significant advantage. Copy Cat Queen, who has earned $319,813 from 17 wins and ten placings from 47 starts, has set the pace in only four of her starts --- for two wins, a fourth and an eighth placing.
Four-year-old Delightful Peg has raced 29 times for nine wins, five seconds and $146,098, and she has resumed after a spell in fine style for trainer Gary Hall Snr, with her four starts in her current campaign producing two wins and two seconds.
Gary Hall Jnr opted to drive Delightful Peg in preference to Eastbro Chrissy and Fakenit, and he is looking for a strong performance from the New Zealand-bred mare.
“Last week she was easily going the best on the line,” said Hall. “She was super, and I consider she is going as good as any mare here (in WA). She has really hit her straps.”
Copy Cat Queen should have little difficulty in bursting straight to the front from barrier two, with the polemarker Wave Rebellion’s racing pattern being to be driven with a sit before sprinting home strongly.
“I will be handing up to (probably) Copy Cat Queen and then trying to hold her back for as long as I can,” said Wave Rebellion’s driver Stuart McDonald. “If she goes at her best and doesn’t get too far back, she can run a place.”
Ravenswood trainer Cameron Ross has two runners, Sugar Delight (barrier four) and Little Darling (barrier nine), with Jocelyn Young choosing to drive Little Darling, and crack New South Wales reinsman Will Rixon being engaged for Sugar Delight.
“From the outside barrier it’s a bit tricky for Little Darling, and I’m wondering how she gets into it,” said Young. “However, Little Darling was a lot better last Friday (when she raced in sixth position in the one-wide line before finishing solidly into fifth place behind Copy Cat Queen).”
Sunnys Little Rose Is Blooming
Lightly raced seven-year-old trotter Sunnys Little Rose has returned to action after a 20-month absence in fine style and her new trainer and lessee owner Brad Lynn is confident the mare will run a bold race in the 2503m TABtouch Punters Club Handicap at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
After a first-up sixth from 30m in a stand at Pinjarra last Monday week Sunnys Little Rose, driven by Toby Lynn, began smartly from barrier four in a 2185m mobile event at Pinjarra on Monday this week and she impressed in setting the pace and winning by two lengths from Luvaflair.
“She had a few problems, and I have taken my time with her,” said Brad Lynn. “She won well at Pinjarra this week and has pulled up really good. Fingers crossed, she will be able to lead, and they might not be able to catch her.”
The Victorian-bred Sunnys Little Rose has raced only 27 times for four wins, 12 placings and $46,464 in prizemoney. She is an experienced standing-start performer, having contested 14 stands for three wins (one at Gloucester Park and two at Pinjarra) and six placings.
Sunnys Little Rose is one of four mares in Friday night’s event, with one of her chief rivals being the youngest of those mares in five-year-old Majestic Ga Ga, the co-backmarker off 50 metres with four-year-old gelding Mystery Fred.
Majestic Ga Ga, to be driven by Emily Suvaljko for trainer Michael Young, is a brilliant trotter who has earned $226,242 from 25 wins and 21 placings from 68 starts.
She is a capable standing-start performer, with Suvaljko saying: “She is used to being back there and she steps really well. This will be her last run before she has a spell before getting ready for the Trotters Cup and Trotters Sprint in January. So, she won’t leave anything on the track on Friday night, for sure.”
Mystery Fred, one of four trotters in the race who are prepared by Waroona trainer Nigel Johns, excels in standing-start events and looks set fight out the finish. He began from 40m when he finished strongly to win from Majestic Ga Ga over 2503m at Pinjarra two starts ago.
The Lynn father and son combination has bright prospects of winning the Book Your Christmas Function Pace over 2130m with ten-year-old Major Express, who has the ability to overcome the significant disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line.
Major Express has been placed at his two appearances last month after an absence of 17 months, and he should carry too many guns for his eleven rivals on Friday night.
He raced wide early (after starting from barrier six) and then worked hard in the breeze when a fighting, close-up third behind Flyin Disco and Captain Said So over 2130m last Friday week --- seven nights after he set the pace and finished a first-up third behind Our Crunch Time and Soho Moonraker.
“Major Express probably will work forward and sit in the breeze --- and win,” said Lynn. “This race looks a big drop in class for him.”
D Mac poised to join a galaxy of stars
The Falcon Strike, Alta Christiano, Beaudiene Boaz, Chicago Bull and Mister Smartee are five of the best pacers prepared by master trainer Gary Hall Snr.
They have something in common: They have won the group 3 Western Gateway for three-year-olds, and Hall has high hopes that he will add to this impressive list at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he will be pinning his faith on crack New Zealand-bred gelding D Mac, who will begin from the coveted No. 1 barrier in the 2026 Western Gateway over 2130m.
Hall has won the Western Gateway a record seven times, with Elegant Christian (2014) and Eloquent Mach (2019) joining The Falcon Strike (2001), Alta Christiano (2013), Beaudiene Boaz (2015), Chicago Bull (2016) and Mister Smartee (2023) on the Honour Roll.
Gary Hall Jnr will drive D Mac and will be seeking his sixth success in the feature event. D Mac will be a short-priced favourite, following his superb all-the-way victory in a WA Derby prelude last Friday night when he rated 1.54.5 over 2130m after dashing over the final quarters in 27.3sec. and 27.2sec.
For good measure, Hall Snr trains the second favourite Im Stealthy, who will start from barrier six with Stuart McDonald in the sulky. McDonald drove Eloquent Mach when he won the Western Gateway in 2019.
Im Stealthy appeals as the chief danger to D Mac. He has won at his past three appearances at Gloucester Park and goes into Friday night’s classic with a record of eleven starts for eight wins and a third, a fourth and a fifth placing.
Hall Jnr was delighted with D Mac’s victory last Friday night, saying: “He was super and he has been flying out (at the start) and that shouldn’t be an issue. He and Im Stealthy are ticking over nicely.”
Leading trainer Aiden De Campo has four runners in the race --- American Machine (barrier two), Wheelsofortune (seven), Amalfi Knight (inside of the back line) and Bettor Behave (outside of the back line), and he has chosen to drive American Machine.
“This is a very good race, and American Machine should go forward hard and then take a trail (in the one-wide line) on Ideal Beach or Im Stealthy,” said De Campo. “American Machine has been a lot better at his past couple of starts. Nothing went his way last week (when seventh behind D Mac) and he has come on well from that run.
“It looks tough for Wheelsofortune from the wide draw; Bettor Behave is racing well, and I’m quite happy with Amalfi Knight, who was very ordinary (when fourth) in a heat of the Westbred.
“After that he had a few problems, and it has taken him a little bit to get over them. His recent trial was good, and he has worked well since.”
Amalfi Knight rated 1.57.6 when he sat behind the pacemaker Maternal Dreams before finishing strongly to beat that pacer and win the 2185m trial at Pinjarra on Wednesday of last week. The final quarters were run in 28.4sec. and 27.2sec.
Ace trainers Greg and Skye Bond will be relying on their talented Always B Miki geldings Havtimeformiki (Deni Roberts) and Proposition Joe (Kyle Symington), each of whom is racing in excellent form.
Ideal Beach (barrier four) and El Mystro (five) have above average ability and cannot be left out of calculations. Will Rixon will drive the Justin Prentice-trained Ideal Beach, a winner of seven races and $339,976 in prizemoney, and trainer-reinsman Robbie Williams has El Mystro racing in fine style.
Emily’s birthday wish
Emily Suvaljko would dearly love to celebrate her 26TH birthday on Friday by driving Hugotastic to victory in the $31,000 Kids Eat Free Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park.
Hugotastic, trained by Michael Young, will start from the No. 2 barrier on the back line, and Suvaljko gives the New Zealand-bred six-year-old an excellent chance, particularly if the race is an up-tempo affair.
“There probably will be a lot of speed on with Captain Ravishing and Hotly Pursued on the front line,” she said. “Therefore, I should be able to hold Hugo up for one run.”
Hugotastic is a brilliant sit-sprinter who gave an outstanding performance in a 1730m Free-For-All last Friday night when he began from the inside of the back line and raced at the rear while Franco Encore was setting a scorching pace with Captain Ravishing applying considerable pressure.
The opening quarters were run in 27.8sec. and 28.2sec., and at the bell Hugotastic was in eleventh position, with the eventual winner Sweet Pins in ninth place.
Sweet Pins sprinted brilliantly to charge to the front 300m from home. Hugotastic was twelfth and last with 350m to travel before Suvaljko urged him forward. He was still at the rear when he went seven wide on the home turn before flashing home to finish second, three lengths from the winner, Sweet Pins, who rated 1.51.3 after final 400m sections of 27.9sec. and 28.5sec.
“I thought Hugo’s effort was the run of the race,” said Suvaljko, while an admiring Gary Hall Jnr was fulsome in his praise of Sweet Pins, saying: “He is an exciting horse with an electric turn of foot.”
With some of the front-line fancied runners battling for ascendancy, Hugotastic and Sweet Pins, who will start alongside each other on the back line, will be poised to charge forward, ensuring a cat and mouse contest.
Sweet Pins and Hugotastic are certainly not the only winning prospects in the race in which champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond hold a powerful hand with last-start winner We Walk By Faith (Deni Roberts; barrier seven) and Golden Lode (Kyle Symington; barrier nine) commanding great respect, along with multiple group 1 winner Mighty Ronaldo (Will Rixon; barrier eight).
