Give Us A Wave, a $60,000 yearling, has impressed at his two starts and has the ability to overcome the disadvantage of starting out wide at barrier eight by winning the $100,000 Sales Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Prepared by leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond and driven confidently by Ryan Warwick, the Mach Three colt gave a sample of his class when he started from the outside at barrier No. 9 in a qualifying heat at Gloucester Park on Tuesday of last week.
A 10/1 chance, he began speedily and raced three wide in the early stages before working hard in the breeze outside the speedy pacemaker and odds-on favourite The Swiss Maestro. After a 29.2sec. third quarter of the final mile Give Us A Wave sprinted the final 400m in 27.5sec., took the lead 50m from the post and won by a metre from Swiss Maestro at a 1.57.7 rate.
Give Us A Wave covered the 1730m journey in 2min. 6.5sec., which was better than the gross times recorded by the other three heat winners Rock On The Beach (2min. 7.2sec.), Talks Up A Storm (2min. 7.8sec.) and Robbie Rocket (2min. 8.5sec.). However, the other heat winners have drawn inside of Give Us A Wave and punters are sure to support them, as well as the polemarker Rich American and the highly-promising Machnificent, the solitary runner on the back line.
Give Us A Wave was gallant in defeat at his debut at Pinjarra on February 3 when he led from barrier one and was beaten by a nose by Machnificent, who had enjoyed a perfect passage behind the pacemaker.
Give Us A Wave is out of unraced Safely Kept mare Royal Tour, the dam of eight winners, including Truckers Ruffnut (53 starts for 20 wins, 14 placings and $249,770) and Tuxedo Tour (70 starts for 15 wins, 21 placings and $194,569).
Truckers Ruffnut won the Sales Classic for three-year-old colts and geldings and the Battle of Bunbury in February 2009 before winning the group 1 State Sires Series three months later. Tuxedo Tour won the group 1 State Sires Series for three-year-old colts and gelding in July 2012 and the group 3 Christmas Gift in December 2014.
Capel trainer Aiden de Campo had little luck at the barrier draw, with Rock On The Beach at No. 6 and The Good Life at No. 9.
Rock On The Beach, a $87,500 yearling, set the pace and won by a half-length from the David Thompson-trained Rich American in a qualifying heat in which Dylan Egerton-Green drove The Good Life into third place after racing in the breeze.
“Not much separates Rock On The Beach and The Good Life and they’ve both shown me a good deal of ability,” de Campo said. “I think that Rock On The Beach is a more complete racehorse at this stage. The Good Life can be a bit fiery at times. In the heat he pulled hard in the breeze which probably cost him from running a bit closer.
De Campo will stick with Rock On The Beach while Egerton-Green has opted to handle the Murray Lindau-trained Talks Up A Storm from barrier No. 5. Michael Grantham will drive The Good Life.
Talks Up A Storm made a splendid debut in winning a qualifying heat by a length from the pacemaker Regal Aura after racing without cover throughout. Talks Up A Storm, a $22,000 yearling, is by American stallion Artspeak from New Zealand mare Typhoon Tan, who raced 74 times for 14 wins, 24 placings and $141,722 in stakes.
It will be 11.30 in Tasmania on Friday night when Robbie Rocket begins from the favourable No. 2 barrier and the colt’s owner-breeder Paddy O’Boyle will be watching Sky Channel with keen anticipation.
“Paddy has retired to Tasmania where he loves playing golf and he watches his horses on television like a hawk,” said Robbie Rocket’s trainer Vicki Lea.
Robbie Rocket, who was passed in when he failed to reach his reserve price of $30,000 at the Perth yearling sale, is unbeaten, following all-the-way wins at Narrogin and Gloucester Park. He was not extended by Chris Lewis when he set the pace and beat Our Boy Archie by more than two lengths in his qualifying heat.
“We were happy with the run; he did everything right,” said Lea. “Frontrunning is not his only strength; he can sit up and is happy to follow speed. He has inherited the excellent gate speed of his dam Elite Angel.”
Elite Angel, a small mare, also was capable of producing a powerful finishing burst. Purchased by Ron Huston for $6000, Elite Angel earned $128,702 from 12 wins and 14 placings from 62 starts. Her half-brother Son of Fergie amassed $376,765 in prizemoney from 23 wins in WA and four in America.
