Evergreen pacer Our Jimmy Johnstone will take his stake-earnings past the $800,000 mark at Gloucester Park on Friday night wherever he finishes in the field of nine in the 2536m Simmonds Steel Decorative Screens Pace.
The seemingly indestructible and indefatigable 12-year-old is a credit to the care of leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond and if he maintains his recent form of improving by one placing he will emerge triumphant after his past seven starts have produced placings of eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two.
This will be his 154th start in a wonderful career of 32 wins, 29 seconds and 26 thirds for stakes of $799,989.
He will start from the No. 6 barrier and will be driven by Deni Roberts, who will be anxious for the old New Zealand-bred gelding to end a losing sequence of 14. He certainly put the writing on the wall for another success when he was sixth on the home turn and ran home fast to be a half-neck second to champion Chicago Bull over 2130m last Friday week.
Our Jimmy Johnstone is certainly the best-performed stayer in this week’s event in which most of his rivals have had difficulty in winning over 2536m.
He has raced 34 times over 2536m for six wins and eight placings, and it is significant that he has won over 3200m, 3000m, twice over 2700m, twice over 2600m, three times over 2631m, twice over 2503m and once each over 2569m and 2683m.
Noted frontrunner Chiaroscuro will start from barrier No. 1 and is likely to be strongly supported. But his past two runs over 2536m have resulted in a tenth and twelfth placing. He has raced over that distance ten times for one win (when he raced in the one-out, one-back position in October 2018). He also has finished second once and third twice.
Chiaroscuro has not been prominent at his past two starts in top-class company after scoring an all-the-way victory over As Happy As Larry and Bracken Sky in weaker company in the 2130m Parliamentarians Cup early in December.
Nine-year-old Talktomeurmattjesty was a brilliant all-the-way from Whozideawasthis and Our Jimmy Johnstone over 2130m two starts ago and will have admirers, even though he is poorly drawn on the outside in the field of nine.
Talktomeurmattjesty possesses blistering gate speed and Kyle Harper could well attempt to take full advantage of this attribute in a bid for the early lead. He has led and won over 2536m twice in March 2017 and January 2020 but his latest three attempts over that journey have produced disappointing finishes of twelfth, tenth and eleventh.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Im Full Of Excuses has claims from barrier seven. He showed a welcome glimpse of form last Friday week when he ran on from sixth on the pegs at the bell to move to second on the home turn before wilting to finish third behind Chicago Bull and Our Jimmy Johnstone.
Ten-year-old Whozideawasthis is favourably drawn at barrier two and he should enjoy a soft passage before finishing gamely to fight out the finish. Simba Bromac, Bracken Sky, Roman Aviator and Cyclone Banner are in sound form and cannot be written off in a very open field.
