Bettors Fire (inside) winning at Gloucester Park on November 14th
Six years ago Kyle Harper, at the tender age of 18, made a bold bid to win the Del Basso Smallgoods Parliamentarians Cup when he set the pace with 33/1 outsider Roydon Holmes.
But he was thwarted when his elder brother Donald brought Hayton Brain home with a powerful burst to defeat Roydon Holmes.
Now he has high hopes of notching his first success in the 2536m Parliamentarians Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he handles talented New Zealand-bred six-year-old Bettors Fire in the $30,000 feature.
Bettors Fire is in splendid form, winning at three of his past four starts, all in 2503m stands at Gloucester Park and he has the ability to overcome the significant disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier on the front line in the 2536m mobile event.
Harper has plans to contest the $250,000 Fremantle Cup and $400,000 TABtouch WA Pacing Cup in January with Bettors Fire, who has raced 19 times in Western Australia for 11 wins and three placings.
Bettors Fire is strong and versatile and Harper is sure to drive aggressively. The gelding started off 10m at his most recent outing, last Friday week when Harper sent him forward in the first lap to surge to the front on his way to a fighting win over the fast-finishing Some Kinda Tactics. He came off 30m and 20m and after racing three wide in the first lap, raced in the breeze before winning at his two previous runs in stands. Two starts ago he finished determinedly to be third behind Sensational Gabby in the 1730m Mount Eden Sprint.
Another strong stayer in Friday night’s race is the indefatigable ten-year-old Shardons Rocket, who will start from the outside of the back line with Morgan Woodley in the sulky. Shardons Rocket has raced without cover before winning at three of his past five outings. He is trained by Tony Svilicich, who has won the Parliamentarians Cup with Has The Answers in 2009 and Real Life in 2011.
The Mike Reed-trained Polak is a last-start winner when he began brilliantly from barrier four and set the pace before holding on to score by a half-head from Soho Highroller over 1730m. He faces a tougher task this week from barrier six over the 2536m.
Dredlock Rockstar, trained at Busselton by his owner Jamie Howlett, will be attempting to win the Parliamentarians Cup for the second successive year after he set the pace from barrier two and won convincingly from Ohoka Dallas and Shardons Rocket when the event was run over 2130m. That was his most recent victory, and he now has a losing sequence of nine.
His two most recent runs have been full of merit, finishing third behind Sensational Gabby in the 2130m Stratton Cup and second to the same mare in the 1730m Mount Eden Sprint.
Locally-bred six-year-old El Machine resumes in Friday night’s race and though he has drawn barrier four on the back line he is capable of a bold showing. He warmed up for trainer-reinsman Kade Howson by finishing second to Dynamite Dude in a 2185m trial at Pinjarra last Sunday week when the final quarters were covered in 28.7secv. and 26.9sec.
El Machine has won at seven of his past 12 starts. He last appeared when he won easily from Leda McNally and Captain Proud in the 2100m Manea Classic at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park on July 26.
