Soho Tribeca. Photo by Scott Hamilton Media
It’s looming large as one of the most exciting and beguiling clashes of the TABtouch Inter Dominion championship series the confrontation between star five-year-olds Chicago Bull and Soho Tribeca at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park tomorrow night.
The brilliant West Australian pacers have established a keen rivalry and they will continue their enthralling struggle for supremacy when they clash in the fifth heat of the Inters.
This 2100m heat is intriguing, inasmuch as it will pit the big, handsome Soho Tribeca against the much smaller, plain and insignificant-looking gelding Chicago Bull and the race also gives promise of producing a battle of tactics between star reinsmen Kim Prentice (Soho Tribeca) and Gary Hall Jnr (Chicago Bull).
Chicago Bull and Soho Tribeca have met eight times, with Chicago Bull finishing ahead of his arch-rival five times and Soho Tribeca crossing the finish line ahead of his opponent on three occasions.
Mere millimetres have separated the pair in their past two clashes with Soho Tribeca finishing second to Chicago Bull on each occasion, by a margin of a head in the Mount Eden Sprint over 1730m and by a nose in the 2536m Brennan Memorial. Their only other meeting as five-year-olds was in the Stratton Cup in early October when Shandale beat Soho Tribeca by a head, with Chicago Bull finishing in third place.
Details of their five clashes as four-year-olds are as follows: Four-Year-Old Classic at Pinjarra (Soho Tribeca first; Chicago Bull third), McInerney Ford Classic (Chicago Bull first, Soho Tribeca fifth), Golden Nugget (Soho Tribeca first, Chicago Bull third), Fremantle Cup (Chicago Bull first, Soho Tribeca second), WA Pacing Cup (Chicago Bull first, Soho Tribeca third).
Both pacers scored impressive and convincing all-the-way victories in the opening round of Inters heats over 2130m at Gloucester Park last Friday night when each took full advantage of starting from the No. 2 barrier on the front line.
On Tuesday night Soho Tribeca will start out wide at barrier No. 6 on the front line of seven runners, with Chicago Bull somewhat awkwardly drawn on the inside of the back line of two runners.
Adding further intrigue to this clash is the fact that Soho Tribeca has not raced on the 960m Donaldson Park track, whereas Chicago Bull has excelled in Bunbury, having raced there twice, as a three-year-old in August 2016 for two easy wins over 2100m, with final quarters of 27.9sec. and 27.7sec. and 28.4sec. and 27.6sec.
Prentice was full of praise when commenting on Soho Tribeca’s 2130m heat win at a 1.54.2 rate when the stallion sauntered in the early stages with an excessively slow lead time of 37.9sec. before opening quarters of 30sec. and 28.8sec. He than gave the opposition no hope of threatening his superiority by sprinting over the final two 400m sections in 27.3sec. and 27.2sec.
Prentice did not release the ear plugs and Soho Tribeca strolled to victory by 11 metres from New Zealand superstar Lazarus. “We got away with a very easy lead time and we could’ve gone another lap,” said Prentice.
Chicago Bull has been outstanding since arriving in Western Australia after racing seven times in New Zealand for two wins and one placing. Chicago Bull has been unplaced only once from 33 WA starts when fourth behind Jambiani in the Porter Memorial at Gloucester Park on September 8 when having his first start for two months. His 33 WA starts have produced 24 wins and eight placings.
Champion trainer Gary Hall Snr is an unabashed admirer of Chicago Bull and he considers the gelding’s great versatility and his dazzling point-to-point speed will prove vital in the remaining qualifying heats and in the $1.1 million final over 2936m on Friday week.
He admitted that he was feeling somewhat apprehensive before the opening set of heats, saying: “Ï was a little bit nervous because I wanted him to show that he is something special. I think the final is the right race for him because the three big guns, Lazarus, Soho Tribeca and Lennytheshark, are all work horses whereas Bully has got the ability to just camp on them and take advantage of that.
“If he gets a nice draw and takes a good trail just off them, they’ll know he’s there, for sure. He’s very, very quick and if the big guns take each other on a bit we can camp on them and capitalise on that.”
Prentice will be extremely anxious for Soho Tribeca to be in front of Chicago Bull throughout Tuesday night’s heat. However, he might not be able to send Soho Tribeca to an early lead. Hall’s other runner in the heat, Ohoka Punter, is a powerful frontrunner and is ideally drawn at barrier two on the front line.
If Ohoka Punter is seen in the role of pacemaker, it appears certain that Soho Tribeca will be in the breeze. And if that is the case, Chicago Bull could outsprint his noted rival in the concluding stages.
