Ronald George will be looking to emulate stablemate Village of Dreams by claiming Saturday night's Nyah Pacing Cup
Despite getting away untidily at his past two starts, Peter Tonkin-trained Ronald George has won back to back stand-start events in commanding fashion.
And with such form behind him, the five-year-old son of Village Jasper and his connections have reason to be confident ahead of Saturday night’s Group 3 Tooleybuc Sporting Club Nyah Pacing Cup over 2790m.
However, his trainer, while pleased with how Ronald George is racing, says upstaging boom six-year-old Bitobliss will be almightily hard as the Scott Stewart-trained gun looks “a good thing at the handicaps”.
“Only bad luck will beat him,” Peter Tonkin said of Bitobliss.
But Ronald George fans can take solace in the fact he’s usually a much better stand-start performer than he has been at his most recent two wins, according to Tonkin.
“He’s normally a really good beginner, so we’re just hoping he gets it right,” he said.
Ronald George recovered from an early mistake two runs back at Melton to overpower Dual Agent Tabman and Giveitaname over 2240m before another impressive victory over Our Archangel and Tanabi Bromac last time out.
In both wins driver Chris Alford has set alight Ronald George off the back straight, swept around the leaders into the straight and powered to the line.
“He’s no star but he’s just a really nice horse,” Tonkin said.
“He ran second in a Sires Final to Royal Verdict.”
Ronald George will start inside the second row on Saturday night, alongside Composed, who’s traditionally not a fan of the tapes. Drawn beside the pair is Wartime Sweetheart, another who prefers the rolling start.
Bitobliss will start off 20m, the son of Blissful Hall returning to the track last Friday night with a mighty 8.7m win over Composed in the Pegasus Club Cup.
Ronald George, meanwhile, is no stranger to Nyah, scoring a comfortable win on cup night 12 months ago.
“I’ve won it before (the Nyah Cup) so it’d be nice to win it again,” Tonkin said when asked what a cup victory would mean.
The Nyah Cup is scheduled to start at 9pm.
