David Aiken has a strong hand to play in the 2013 Cobram Cup.
The Jim Phillips Memorial Cobram Pacing Cup is almost upon us and there’s not a great deal of holiday rest for our hard working trainers and drivers.
Toiling particularly hard under the summer sun will be Avenel trainer/driver David Aiken.
With a large team of nine runners engaged for the day, Aiken will have his work cut out right at the business end of the day, with four competitors in the Cup itself.
Stepping out for start number one hundred and two and conceding twenty metres from the standing start is nine-year-old gelding Jaccka Clive.
A winner of over $480,000 in career prize money and beaten narrowly by Mah Sish in this year’s Del-Re National Food Group A G Hunter Cup, Jaccka Clive is a winner of the 2011 Cobram Pacing Cup and will be doing his utmost to add another to his trophy cabinet.
Having his first start for over a month, Jaccka Clive should be fresh and ready to perform at his best at Cobram.
Lining up 10 metres in front of Jaccka Clive is stable mate and last start Melton winner Smudge Bromac, to be driven by Nathan Jack.
A veteran of one hundred and thirty three starts, Smudge Bromac has been extremely consistent over the last two months of his racing career and looks set to be a danger on Friday.
To be partnered by the boss himself is six-year-old Courage Under Fire gelding Wartime Sweetheart.
Winner of the Sew-Eurodrive Popular Alm (Group 3) two starts ago beating a quality field including Melpark Major, Mah Sish and Broadways Best, Wartime Sweetheart is a quality pacer who will make his presence felt in the $25,000 Cobram Cup.
Rounding out the Aiken team is seven-year-old gelding Composed, to be driven off the front row by champion driver Chris Alford, who has been enjoying a purple patch of form over the last few months.
In a quality field for the 2014 Cobram Pacing Cup, the Aiken outfit has a strong chance of taking it out with four out of the 10 runners vying for the prize.
