Mysta Magical Mach
Star four-year-old Mysta Magical Mach will have a new driver when he contests the Wanneroo Times Community Stakes over 2536m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Senior part-owner and trainer Tony Svilicich has engaged Callan Suvaljko to drive Mysta Magical Mach for the first time.
Svilicich had to look for a new driver when the gelding’s regular reinsman Morgan Woodley was suspended until Easter Sunday for causing interference in the Queensland Derby at the Gold Coast last Saturday night.
Woodley, driving $82 tote outsider Our Crown Law, pleaded guilty to shifting in from a three-wide position and causing Elixir to be checked and break. Our Crown Law finished fourth in the classic which was won by the 3/1 on favourite Captain Joy.
Mysta Magical Mach was at odds-on when fourth behind The Vice Captain in the Three and Four-Year-Old Championship at Gloucester Park last Saturday night when he was driven for the first time by 18-year-old Jake Tanner.
Mysta Magical Mach broke in the score-up and gave his ten rivals a start of more than 25m before he finished boldly, out wide, from last at the bell. Mysta Magical Mach had won brilliantly at his four previous starts.
His clash with Tee Pee Village should be a highlight of the meeting. Tee Pee Village returned to racing in a blaze of glory last Friday night when he started from barrier one and was untroubled to set the pace and win the 2130m Autumn Championship from Amongst Royalty and Wunder Cloud.
JUMBO OPERATOR LOOKS THE GOODS
Jumbo Operator emerged as the State’s best three-year-old with his devastating victory in the Caduceus Club Classic last Friday night and he should tighten his grip on the $200,000 WA Derby by winning the $50,000 Community Newspapers Western Gateway Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
His prospects soared when he drew the prized No. 1 barrier in the 2536m event.
He became an automatic qualifier for the Derby, to be run over 2536m on April 17, and the winner of the Western Gateway Pace also will gain automatic entry into the Derby.
The Fremantle Harness Racing Club’s Western Gateway Pace is the major lead-up for the Derby and since the Western Gateway Pace was first run in 1980, eight winners of the event have been successful in the WA Derby --- Via Vista (1981), Smooth Dave (1982), Whitbys Miss Penny (1991), Salinger (1997), Saab (1998), Talladega (2000), Global Force (2004) and Mr Yankee (2006).
Jumbo Operator could not have been more impressive in winning the Caduceus Club Classic. After starting from barrier seven, he raced in ninth position before he sustained a superb three-wide burst to hit the front 300m from home and win by almost a length from the pacemaker In The Force, rating 1.57.3 over the 2130m.
This was Jumbo Operator’s fifth win from six starts and he looks destined for stardom for Byford trainer Ron Huston and his talented reinsman Shannon Suvaljko..
The gelding is by American stallion Armbro Operative out of WA-bred mare Queen Delilah, who was retired after earning $66,421 from her ten wins and 25 placings from 67 starts.
In the spring of 2001 Huston’s brother Jason drove Queen Delilah to three wins and four placings in Kalgoorlie in the space of eight weeks. Jumbo Operator, the second foal out of Queen Delilah, has already earned $74,487.
In The Force, with a record this season of four wins and four placings from nine starts, again appears Jumbo Operator’s main rival. He will start from barrier four and Chris Lewis will be looking for his sixth success in the Western Gateway Pace. His winners have been Flashing Star (1993), Pro Armbro (1995), Saab (1998), Talladega (2000) and Alberta Retreat (2005).
Banjup trainer Colin Brown, who drove Demoralizer to victory in the 2003 Western Gateway Pace, has two runners in Tommy Tornado and Please Release Me.
He has decided to drive Tommy Tornado, an easy Pinjarra winner last Monday week, and has engaged Ryan Warwick to handle Please Release Me. Tommy Tornado is badly drawn at No. 9 on the front line and Please Release Me will start from barrier two on the back row.
Please Release Me has won in good style at each of his past three starts and Warwick hopes to emulate his father Colin, who drove Hey Maybe to win the event in 1984 at Richmond Raceway.
GARY HALL SUSPENDED FOR 19 DAYS
Star reinsman Gary Hall jun. is under suspension and will miss several excellent drives at Friday night’s meeting at Gloucester Park.
He was found guilty of wielding his whip with an incorrect action in the concluding stages of the Three and Four-Year-Old Championship at Gloucester Park last Saturday night.
He drove Alzona, who fought on from seventh at the bell to finish fifth behind The Vice Captain. This was his fourth offence in the past few weeks under the provisions of Rule 156 (2) (b) for improper use of the whip.
Automatic fines for the first three offences are $100, $200 and $400 and there is a suspension of not less than 21 days for the fourth offence. In this case, the stewards, in assessing the penalty, imposed a suspension of 19 days. This will enable Hall to drive in the WA Derby at Gloucester Park on April 17.
Other drivers suspended or fined for improper use of the whip at recent meetings include: Ashleigh Markham (Sir Vandell), 21 days suspension, Aldo Cortopassi (Namarrgon), $200, at Narrogin last Friday; Kyle Harper (Johnny Doika), $400, Kade Howson (Pacific Fortune), $200, Jason Keys (Secret Interlude), $100, at Gloucester Park last Friday; Cortopassi (Total Defiance), $400, Aiden Warwick (Barjohbil), $200, Clinton Kimes (The Jamaican), $200, Kim Prentice (Falcons Dragon), $200, Clinton Elliott (Heaintheavy), $100, Jake Tanner (Mysta Magical Mach), $100, at Gloucester Park last Saturday; Jason Keys (Howzat Duke), $200, at Collie on Sunday.
GOOD DRIVE FOR GILES INWOOD
Star mare Amongst Royalty should appreciate a drop in class and end a losing sequence of eight when she contests the Comment News Stakes for fillies and mares at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Amongst Royalty, a winner of $494,240 in stakes, has reached an M5 mark and is able to compete in Friday night’s 2130m M0 to M4 event because owner Ross Torre and trainer Sam Torre have engaged claiming reinsman Giles Inwood.
Inwood will become the tenth driver to have handled Amongst Royalty. Seven of them have been successful --- Chris Alford (seven wins), Chris Lewis (six), Gary Hall jun. (two) and Beau Tindale, Aldo Cortopassi, Sam Torre, and Morgan Woodley (one).
Torre drove Amongst Royalty at her second outing after a spell, when she finished second to Tee Pee Village over 2130m in the Autumn Championship last Friday night.
The five-year-old mare started from the inside of the back line and Torre had her perfectly positioned throughout, on the pegs behind the pacemaking Tee Pee Village.
Amongst Royalty impressed at Gloucester Park the previous week when she finished boldly from ninth at the bell to be third behind Mysta Magical Mach and Wunder Cloud.
This week Amongst Royalty will start from barrier eight, with her most serious rival, Justlikechocolate at No. 7.
Justlikechocolate has begun from an outside barrier at Gloucester Park at her past two starts and has covered extra ground before finishing determinedly for thirds behind Astrolabe Storm and Aloha Christian.
