New Zealand-bred filly Our Angel of Harlem shows promise of developing into an outstanding performer and she has bright prospects of overcoming the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line and winning the Garrards Horse And Hound Pace for three-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The Mike Reed-trained Our Angel of Harlem made amends for her first-up failure at 25/1 on two starts ago when she set the pace and wilted to fourth behind De La Tourbie at Pinjarra on Monday of last week by scoring a runaway victory in the group 3 Dainty’s Daughter Classic at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon.
Starting at the lucrative odds on 11/2, Our Angel of Harlem began speedily from the No. 2 barrier but was forced to face the breeze outside the polemarker Infinite Symbol before Mark Reed obtained a favourable passage in the one-wide line.
Our Angel of Harlem then was shuffled back to seventh at the bell before she unwound a spirited burst to charge to the front 250m from home and then raced away to win by four lengths from Amelias Courage, rating 1.56 for the 2185m journey. Reinforcing the excellence of the performance is the fact that the quarters of the final mile whizzed by in 29.8sec., 28.6sec., 28.3sec. and 28.1sec.
The win was not unexpected, following the explanation of her shock defeat a week earlier. A post-raced veterinary examination then revealed that Our Angel of Harlem was showing symptoms consistent with choking down.
Our Angel of Harlem’s driver Shannon Suvaljko explained to the stewards that in the straight racing for the bell De La Tourbie, who was in the breeze, started to contact her own sulky and overrace, and this caused Our Angel of Harlem to overrace. The following day an endoscopic examination revealed no abnormalities.
Our Angel of Harlem certainly has the potential to emulate the deeds of Mike Reed’s star mare Libertybelle Midfrew, who as a four-year-old four years ago finished second to Sensational Gabby in the Group 3 Norms Daughter Classic and won the Group 1 Gold Nugget, beating Waylade.
If Our Angel of Harlem continues to improve Reed is sure to contemplated setting her for the Golden Nugget and the major feature events for mares at the annual summer carnival at Gloucester Park.
Our Angel of Harlem will again clash with Amelias Courage and De La Tourbie, each of whom will have admirers. Amelias Courage, trained by Colin Brown and to be driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, will start from the No. 7 barrier and De La Tourbie, to be driven by Chris Lewis for trainer Justin Prentice, is more favourably drawn at barrier four.
Amelias Courage, with a record of nine wins, 12 seconds and two thirds from 37 starts, impressed at Pinjarra on Monday when she surged home from eighth at the bell to finish second to Our Angel of Harlem. That was Amelias Courage’s first outing for 11 weeks and she should be improved by the run.
Liberty Rose, a winner at six of her 12 starts, trained by Gary Hall Snr and to be handled by Gary Hall Jnr, will start out wide at barrier eight at her first outing since she led from barrier two and won a C2-class event at Gloucester Park on June 19.
The New Zealand-bred Semiramide, trained and driven by Nathan Turvey, will also have admirers after her stylish victory at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon when she raced in the breeze, took the lead with 350m to travel and defeated Arose For Me, rating 1.57.6 after sprinting over the final 400m of the 1684m event in 27.8sec. She will start from barrier five.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Veiled Secret has won at four of her past eight starts and is capable of a bold showing from the outside of the back line.
