American Ideal - sire of Baby She Rocks
Baby She Rocks, a $14,000 yearling, is poised to give young Bunbury trainer-reinsman Kaiden Hayter his biggest win in harness racing by overcoming a back line draw and beating her nine rivals in the group 1 $100,000 Gloucester Standardbred Sales Classic for two-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on tonight.
Baby She Rocks gave a sample of her class when she made the most of the prized No. 1 barrier with an impressive all-the-way victory in a qualifying heat on Tuesday of last week. She covered the final 800m in 59sec. and rated 1.58.7 in beating Trubluwaussie by just under four lengths. That followed her excellent debut at Gloucester Park three weeks earlier when she raced in the one-out, one-back position and finished strongly to be a close second to Dodolicious.
One of her chief rivals is the other heat winner Bettor Bling, who will start from the inside of the back line. Bettor Bling, trained and driven by Callan Suvaljko, also started from the inside of the back line in a qualifying heat when she trailed the pacemaker Mystery Princess before finishing fast to beat that filly by a half-length at a 2.0.4 rate after sprinting the final 400m in 28.4sec.
The prospects of Mystery Princess slumped when she drew the outside of the front line. Trubluwaussie drew more favourably at No. 4 on the front line and she appeals as a good each-way prospect for trainer Mike Beech and reinsman Chris Lewis.
Victory would give Lewis his seventh success in this classic event for fillies, after wins with Miss Booth (1991), Parthenon (1994), Backin A Jiffy (2000), Hindu Sitara (2003), Amongst Royalty (2006) and Fidelius Charm (2008). The race record is held by Trevor Warwick, who was successful with Gold Duchess (1989), Bonnie Blue Eyes (1993), Concorde Lombo (1996), Tailamade Lombo (1997), Lombo Rapida (1998), Lombo Quest (1997) and Nevabend Lombo (2001).
Egerton-Green strikes a purple patch
Young reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green has excellent prospects of continuing a wonderful purple patch by winning the Cowden Limited Westbred Pathway Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night with promising five-year-old Aussie Jet.
Aussie Jet, trained at Busselton by Colin Reeves, has drawn ideally at barrier one on the front line of the 2130m event. The gelding has won at each of his past three starts, all at Bunbury when handled by Egerton-Green.
Aussie Jet completed the hat-trick when he started at 10/9, set the pace from the No. 2 barrier and held on gamely to defeat Black N Bettor by a head, rating 1.57.2 over 1609m, with the final 800m taking 55.9sec.
Egerton-Green continued in splendid form with a double at Pinjarra on Monday with 92/1 outsider Free To Air and Moonlight Rockhole (12/1), followed by a win at Narrogin on Tuesday night with 6/1 chance Fifty Hertz.
Aussie Jet, bred and owned by Colin and Sue Reeves, is out of former smart mare Pharosan, who was driven by Mike Reed when she caused an upset by winning the group 1 WA Oaks at Gloucester Park in May 2000, beating hot favourite and brilliant Victorian filly Cornsilk.
The main dangers to Aussie Jet appear to be Intrepidation (a stylish all-the-way Pinjarra winner last Monday week) and Fully Zapped (whose recent form has been excellent).
Cardigan Boko out to make history
Up-and-coming square gaiter Cardigan Boko will create history if he wins the Schweppes Trotters Mobile over 2536m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He warmed up for this assignment with a most impressive victory over Earl Harbour and Xenon in a 2100m trot at Bunbury on April 4, when he set the pace dashed over the final quarters in 29.3sec. and 28.9sec. to score by five and a half lengths at a 2.1.6 rate.
A win this week would give Cardigan Boko the distinction of being the first Swedish-bred horse to win a race at Gloucester Park.
Cardigan Boko is trained at Herron by Clive Dalton and will be driven by Chris Lewis. The six-year-old stallion, owned by Neven Botica, has had only 16 starts for nine wins and three seconds. He won at eight of his 14 starts in Victoria before failing at his WA debut at Pinjarra, when he broke twice in running and finished a distant eighth as a 2/1 on favourite behind Balletto. He then redeemed himself with his easy win at Bunbury.
His clash with the in-form Natalie Duffy-trained eight-year-old Hot Holiday should provide an excellent spectacle. Hot Holiday, who will start from the outside of the front line, has worked hard before scoring strong wins at three of his past four starts.
