Aldo Cortopassi will become the 22nd driver to handle Allthewaytothebank in a race when the six-year-old contests the $18,000 Schneider Ecoxpert Mares Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Allthewaytothebank, trained at Byford by Brendan Abbott, warmed up for her engagement in terrific style with a dashing victory in a 2130m event on Tuesday night. She will start from the No. 3 barrier on the front line and has good prospects.
Sixteen-year-old Corey Peterson got Allthewaytothebank away to a flying start from barrier five and she burst to the front after 200m before bowling along to score by almost two lengths from Donovan Bromac. After a fast lead time of 35.3sec. Allthewaytothebank dashed over the final four quarters in 30sec., 30.1sec., 30.3sec. and 29.2sec.
Abbott has a good second string in Friday night’s race in Artistic Lilly, whose past four starts on country tracks have produced a win at Narrogin, a second at Wagin and thirds at Williams and Bridgetown. The mare will be driven by Michael Grantham, but faces a tough assignment from the outside barrier (No. 9).
Pinjarra breeder-owner-trainer Graham Cox has Honey And Lime in top form and she looks the testing material from the coveted No. 1 barrier, with Dylan Egerton-Green in the sulky.
Honey And Lime covered a good deal of extra ground when she ran on from the rear to finish third behind Artistic Lilly at Narrogin on February 16 and since then she has finished second in trials at Pinjarra and Byford.
Honey And Lime was successful at her two previous starts, finishing strongly to beat Simondou Su at Bridgetown and overcoming a bad start behind the mobile to score from Kissmecougar at Bunbury.