Justin Prentice is hoping that Maia Maguire will be on her best behaviour. Photo by Jodie Hallows
Boyanup trainer-reinsman Justin Prentice is hoping that Maia Maguire will be on her best behaviour and can cause an upset by winning the $35,000 Race For Roses at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Four-year-old Maia Maguire is one of four frontmarkers in the 2503m standing-start group 3 event and she showed her ability as a pacemaker five starts ago when she was racing first-up and won in good style in a minor mobile event at Narrogin. She revealed her versatility with strong-finishing efforts to win at Narrogin and Bunbury at her next two starts before failing at her past two outings.
She began badly in a stand and was never in contention in an event won by McClinchie at Pinjarra last Monday week.
A win by Maia Maguire on Friday night would complete a hat-trick of victories for Prentice in the Race For Roses. Prentice brought 15/1 chance Digital Art home with a powerful burst from three back on the pegs to snatch a head victory from the pacemaker Blacknsweet Adda in last year’s Race For Roses.
He trained and drove The Parade to victory in the Race For Roses the previous year. The Parade started off 20m and won from Hoylakes Firstlady and My Samantha Jane.
Maia Maguire is owned by Bob Fowler, who has two other runners --- frontmarker Hugmeifuluvme and Sheer Rocknroll, the lone backmarker off 30m.
Four-year-old Hugmeifuluvme set the pace and won a stand over 2116m at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon. That was her second win from nine starts and she faces a much more difficult task on Friday night.
However, four-year-old Sheer Rocknroll has the class to overcome the back mark in her first attempt in a standing-start event. The Ross Olivieri-trained mare (a stablemate of Hugmeifuluvme) is in sparkling form and is ready to meet strong challenges from another talented WA-bred four-year-old Dodolicious and the smart New Zealand-bred five-year-old Foxy Dame.
Olivieri boasts the best record as a trainer in the Race For Roses which was first run in 1997. He has been successful with Yippy Yi Yo (1998), Arctic Fire (2011) and Selkie (2014). Chris Lewis, who will drive Sheer Rocknroll, has the best record as a driver in the feature event, having been successful with Lady De Beau (2007), Arctic Fire and Selkie.
Dodolicious, winner of the WA Oaks 12 months ago, and Foxy Dame also will be contesting a standing-start event for the first time. They will share the 20m mark with
Sheer Rocknroll maintained her excellent form and won for the 12th time from her past 20 starts when she started from the outside barrier (No. 9) last Friday night and raced four and three wide for the first 500m before working in the breeze outside the pacemaking Dame Puissant and getting to the front with 250m to travel and then resisting a strong late challenge from Foxy Dame, who impressed in finishing determinedly from ninth at the bell.
Foxy Dame is trained by Mike Reed and will be driven by Shannon Suvaljko. She has a record of 56 starts for nine wins and 21 placings and performs at her best when saved up for a last-lap burst.
Dodolicious, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, will share the 20m mark with the Nathan Turvey-trained pair of Chevrons Champion and Hidden Bad. She is an outstanding pacer who has amassed $441,433 from 15 wins, seven seconds and one third from 26 starts and though this will be her first appearance for five months she cannot be underestimated.
