Kiwi Legend
An intriguing barrier draw has thrown the Slater Gartrell Sports Western Gateway Classic into the melting pot at Gloucester Park on Friday night, but crack New Zealand-bred three-year-olds Beaudiene Boaz and Kiwi Legend should enhance their reputations and their prospects in the WA Derby by fighting out the finish of the $50,000 group 2 feature event.
The random draw did neither any favours, with Beaudiene Boaz drawing out wide at No. 6 on the front line in the 2536m race and Kiwi Legend No. 3 on the back line.
Denny Crane, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, drew the prized No. 1 barrier and Tact Major, prepared by Gary Hall sen., is favourably drawn at No. 2. Both geldings possess good gate speed and are capable of setting the pace and proving hard to beat.
However, the Mike Reed-trained Kiwi Legend was so impressive at his Australian debut when Mark Reed drove the 11/2 chance to a superb all-the-way victory over Military Master and All Aussie Boy at a 1.54.7 rate in a Derby Prelude last Friday night that astute punters are sure to support him with confidence, despite his back-line draw.
That was Kiwi Legend’s third start in a race, and he has yet to be extended in winning all three. The back-line draw should prove no great handicap to Kiwi Legend, who showed his class at his debut when he came from 13th at the bell to score an easy win over 2400m at Wyndham on February 1 when he sped over the final 400m in 27.1sec.
Kiwi Legend ended Beaudiene Boaz’s winning sequence of seven when that pacer started at 3/1 on and worked hard in the breeze before he began to hang in approaching the back straight in the final circuit of last week’s race. Soon after that he met with severe interference when Kiwi Legend shifted up the track. Beaudiene Boaz then gave ground over the concluding stages and finished in eighth position, 13 lengths behind Kiwi Legend.
Reinsman Gary Hall jun. informed the stewards that he eased Beaudiene Boaz down in the final stages after the colt had dropped the bit and was reluctant to race competitively.
Beaudiene Boaz won with such authority at his previous seven starts that it is difficult to visualise him not bouncing back with a vengeance and fighting out the finish this week. Hall sen. is full of hope that Beaudiene Boaz will give him his fourth win in the Western Gateway after scoring with The Falcon Strike (2001), Alta Christiano (2013) and Elegant Christian (2014).
Clint Hall drove Elegant Christian to an all-the-way victory from the No. 1 barrier and he is hoping to repeat the dose this week with Tact Major, who has won at three of his six starts. Tact Major can improve on his fifth behind Kiwi Legend last when he met with interference in the back straight in the final lap after enjoying an ideal passage, one-out and one-back.
Denny Crane should be prominent from his inside barrier. He raced wide early from barrier four last week, was restrained to the rear and did not show up when ninth last week. He has won at seven of his 18 starts and can do much better.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Military Master should be prominent from the inside of the back line. He started from the same barrier in last week’s Derby prelude before racing three back on the pegs and finishing determinedly to be second to Kiwi Legend.
Blythwood trainer Gary Elson has a high opinion of Red Hot Major and the colt should be prominent from barrier four on the front line. The only filly in the event is the Jesse Moore-trained Tricky Styx, a winner at eight of her 15 starts. She will start from No. 5 on the front line and possesses a powerful finishing burst. But she faces a stern test against the colts and geldings.
John of Arc poised to atone
Champion trainer Gary Hall sen. has six of the nine runners in the Slater Gartrell Sports Midland Super Store Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night and he looks certain to win with John of Arc, the lowest assessed horse in the field.
John of Arc is the least experienced runner in the field, with 16 starts for ten wins and four seconds. The New Zealand-bred five-year-old has an M 0 classification, but he should prove far too good for his rivals, three of which are on an M1 mark, four on an M2 mark and one (Notabadexcuse) on an M3 mark.
There were excuses for John of Arc’s shock defeat at 5/2 on when a close and most unlucky second to the frontrunning Meet George Jetson last Friday night. John of Arc was having his first start for nine months and he enjoyed a perfect passage in the one-out, one-back position. But he was hemmed in for most of the final circuit before Gary Hall jun. got him into the clear approaching the home turn.
John of Arc then contacted a wheel of another runner just before the home turn, raced roughly and lost momentum before charging home, four wide, to fail by one metre to overhaul Meet George Jetson.
This week John of Arc will start from barrier three on the front line and should prove too classy for the opposition, which includes stablemate Mohegan Sun, who was a smart all-the-way first-up winner over The Court Jester last Friday fortnight before racing in seventh position and finishing ninth behind Smokey The Bandit last Friday night.
