Obvious winners are hard to find at Globe Derby Park this Saturday night, which is a good sign for punters who are sure to get good odds about good horses.
To get a head start on the field it will be absolutely necessary to study the form early, and when you have a browse through the formguide, make sure you don’t go past a pacer by the name of Portsea Blue in race six, the $4000 Australia Post Pace (2230m).
The race is for horses assessed no better than C1 and you may well look straight past the three-year-old gelding drawn in barrier six, but do this at your peril.
Portsea Blue joined the Daryl Nicol stable recently and is out of the race-winning mare Kew Girl, making him a half brother to Nicol’s current star Top Of The Kew (pictured).
Top Of The Kew has raced 18 times this season for five wins and seven placings with his career tally at 15 wins from 66 starts and $48,876 in stakes.
Trial watchers will already have Portsea Blue in their little black books following some impressive workouts over the past three weeks. He won a three-year-old trial at Globe Derby on 15 May running home in 59 seconds and rounded out his preparation last Sunday with a second to Torretti NZ from a back row draw at the same track.
His only two race starts cannot be sneezed at either. A first start win over subsequent Globe Derby winner and Moonee Valley placegetter Jessica Jasper was backed up a fortnight later with a second to Flyingrama, who ran third in the S.A. Derby in January.
Driver Shaun Adams is impressed with the horse, but is not sure how the race will pan out from the wide draw.
“I’ll discuss it with Daryl, he is the trainer and does all the work with him. I know he likes his horses to do the work if they can and be forward in the race, so we’ll see what happens.” Adams said.
“Daryl gets on pretty well with the owner so he sent him over here. He’s a pretty nice horse. Daryl is still working on him, but he goes pretty well.” he added
Main dangers in Saturday nights race appear to be the other three-year-olds in the race, Isabella Lombo and Torretti, while Motarena and Picatime are also in fine form.
Isabella Lombo is resuming from two months off the track but has been racing in the best of company and barrier one should be an advantage.
Torretti has had just one start since January, but that start was a comfortable three metre win over Delta Safecracker at Globe Derby a week ago last Monday. In the strong Peter Sergi stable, the Kiwi-bred gelding trialled well last Sunday and will be tough to hold out.
Todd Mumford finally brought his smart mare Motarena to Globe Derby last week and she was only beaten a short half head by longshot Leftem For Dead. She is yet to miss a place from eight starts and has drawn barrier two for the second week running.
Picatime is flying at the minute and a second row draw will not bother him. A fast finishing win last Monday was his fourth victory in his last five starts, which includes a stylish 1:57.6 mile at Port Pirie.
The Australia Post Pace (2230m) will start at 8.52pm (ACST) and is just one of nine super races on an excellent night of harness racing action.
