Vincenzo Peruggia is a specialist frontrunner who has set the pace and won at 13 of his 16 victories from 75 starts.
The speedy New Zealand-bred six-year-old has drawn perfectly at barrier one in the 2130m Owners Only Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night and has excellent prospects of winning at his first appearance for seven months.
Seventy-four-year-old Byford trainer Tony Svilicich produced Vincenzo Peruggia in fine fettle when he set the pace and won easily from Angel In White and Gran Chico at a 1.58.3 rate in a 2150m trial at Byford on Sunday morning when he sped over the final 400m in 27.4sec.
Vincenzo Peruggia will be driven by Emily Suvaljko, who will celebrate her 20TH birthday on Friday of next week. He has been noted as a splendid frontrunner ever since he made his debut as a two-year-old when he led and won from stablemate Sergeant Oats at Narrogin in March 2016.
This will be Vincenzo Peruggia’s first appearance since he set the pace and won from Crocodile Kid over 2536m at Gloucester Park last March. This followed a win, five seconds and a fourth at his previous seven starts.
Another noted frontrunner with strong winning prospects is six-year-old Convert Denario, who will start from the No. 1 barrier in the $25,000 Fred Doy Memorial. The Ray Williams-trained gelding will be driven by Aldo Cortopassi, who is sure to attempt an all-the-way win.
Convert Denario has been freshened up since he led and won a 2536m Free-For-All from Bletchley Park and Ideal Liner six weeks ago. His clash with Mighty Conqueror is sure to be one of the highlights on the ten-event program. Mighty Conqueror, to be driven by Ryan Warwick for leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond, will be making his first appearance since winning the 2936m $450,000 WA Pacing Cup last January.
The Bond stable will also be represented with two other leading candidates in veteran Our Jimmy Johnstone (ideally drawn at barrier two) and the up-and-coming four-year-old The Bird Dance (the sole runner on the back line).
Veteran performer Maras Ace Man has bright prospects of opening the program with an all-the-way victory in the 2130m TABtouch Pace, in which he is perfectly drawn for trainer-reinsman Aiden de Campo.
