Up-and-coming star Shockwave will reappear after a two-month absence when he contests the $50,000 Direct Trades Supply Four And Five-Year-Old Championship at Gloucester Park on Friday night as the first stage of a mission culminating in a trip to Brisbane to run in two $250,660 Group 1 feature events at Albion Park in July.
Trainer Ryan Bell said that tentative plans were for the brilliant four-year-old to run in the Rising Sun, a new event for three and four-year-olds over 2138m on July 18 and the 2680m Blacks A Fake Queensland Championship over 2680m on July 25.
Shockwave has not raced since he locked wheels with another runner about 200m from home and dropped back to finish last in the WA Pacing Cup on January 17. He has drawn perfectly at barrier one on Friday night and Bell said that the plan was for Aiden de Campo to set the pace in the 2130m Group 2 event.
Shockwave warmed up for this week’s assignment in grand style, scoring an effortless victory by six and a half lengths over stablemate and pacemaker Blue Blazer, rating 1.56.5 in a 2150m trial at Byford on Sunday morning in which he sped over the final quarters in 28.1sec. and 27.6sec.
Bell was in the sulky behind Blue Blazer and Deni Roberts drove Shockwave in the trial. “It was a plan to give him a tough run in the breeze, and that’s because it wasn’t an overly strong trial and he’s a horse you’ve got to keep up to the mark with hard runs,” Bell explained.
“He thrives on hard work. Deni knows Shockwave as good as I do; she does most of his trackwork. In the trial Shockwave put his head in front of Blue Blazer about 450m from home and Deni just sat on him until the home straight when she let him really slide. She didn’t pull the plugs. She just gave him a flick with the whip and made him run through the line. She made sure that he really savaged the line and she said that he had never felt better. His final three sectionals were pretty slick.”
Bell said that Shockwave hadn’t really had a spell since contesting the WA Pacing Cup. “He had an easy two weeks after the Cup in which he locked wheels,” he said. “He knocked his hindquarters and they swelled up a bit. He just did a bit of power walking up and down the hills at my place and then resumed full training. He’s not a horse who does particularly well when spelling.
“His program now is pretty much week-in, week-out, running in Free-For-Alls, and then Queensland is on the agenda. We haven’t one hundred per cent cemented it in, but we would like to get there for the Rising Sun and Blacks A Fake.
“It’s a long haul to Queensland, but if he’s in the zone and we’re happy with him, we might as well give him a crack. However, everything has to be a hundred per cent for us to jump on a plane.”
Shockwave, who has won at ten of his 32 starts for earnings of $298,704, is expected to receive plenty of opposition on Friday night from Rock Me Over, Bletchley Park, Ocean Ridge and Braeview Bondi.
Rock Me Over, to be driven by Chris Voak for trainer Matt Scott, is handily drawn at barrier three and is capable of a bold showing. Rock Me Over, who was hampered for room when a splendid second to Handsandwheels in the RWWA Cup three starts ago, met with a check on the first turn and veered out before obtaining an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, when a fighting second to Simba Bromac last Friday night.
Ocean Ridge, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, will have admirers from barrier four. He has won six races this season and possesses excellent gate speed.
Bletchley Park, trained in Bunbury by Stephen Reed, is the only runner on the back line and Michael Grantham will weigh up his options whether to trail the likely pacemaker Shockwave or to attempt to secure an advantageous position in the one-wide line. Bletchley Park notched his eleventh win from 26 starts when he raced in the breeze before finishing strongly to win from the pacemaker The Kraken over 2130m on Tuesday night, with final quarters of 28.3sec. and 28.2sec.
Trainer Michael Brennan said he was looking forward to Braeview Bondi’s step up in class, following his impressive victory over 2536m last Friday night when he went forward from barrier nine, raced three wide for the first 200m and took the lead 250m later on his way to beating Captain Mannering by two lengths.
Braeview Bondi will be driven by Kyle Harper, with Grantham opting to handle Bletchley Park. He will start from the No. 2 barrier.
“We won’t be pressing the button at the start,” Brennan said. “He’s not fast enough to cross Shockwave. Our tactics could be dictated a bit by what Ryan (Warwick) does on Ocean Ridge, who could have a chance of crossing Shockwave. Our decision is whether we go back on the fence or stay in the running line.
“A race like this (a step up in class) probably suits Braeview Bondi. In nearly all of his runs he’s been driven against his best racing patters which is sit and sprint. If he gets the right sort of run this week it won’t surprise me if he wins. It’s a very good field; a bunch of very nice horses.”
