In many respects Friday night’s Retravision-Fremantle Cup (2536m) will represent all that is so sacred about harness racing.
From the horse point of view we have the potentially once in a generation heavyweight clash between Shockwave and Chicago Bull.
When it comes to the training side of things, you have to tip your hat to the effort of Greg and Skye Bond to have five runners in the race, while Gary Hall Snr could have his 10th winner in the race.
Then when you speak about the drivers, the famous names of G Hall Jnr and AC Lewis have 14 of these Fremantle Cups between them.
If you look the outside of the front line you would notice the names Emily Suvaljko and Deni Roberts booked to drive Vultan Tin and Ocean Ridge respectively.
For the pair of young ladies, who are still concession drivers, it will be the first time they score up to take part in the $300,000 event.
It has been a whirlwind past year for Roberts, who has established herself as one of the key members of the Bond stable.
She teamed up with Ocean Ridge, who already has the scalp of Chicago Bull and Shockwave, for the first time at the beginning of October and has built a good partnership in her three drives on him to date.
Roberts, who drove her first feature win in the Don Randall Memorial earlier this month, said she couldn’t wait for Friday night.
“It’s always been a thrill watching the Fremantle Cup on the grass at Gloucester Park,” she said.
“It still hasn’t sunk in the fact that I’ve been given the opportunity to drive in it.
“I’m so privileged to be able to get the opportunity to drive him, even though I haven’t been at Greg and Skye’s for that long.
“I got on him the first time this prep and we clicked really well together.”
While Roberts always looked a realistic possibility to have a drive on one of the five Bond runners in the race, Suvaljko’s path to getting the drive on Vultan Tin was completely different.
She first drove Vultan Tin in April and picked up the drive on the veteran for last weekend’s Pat Cranley Memorial.
Suvaljko sent Vultan Tin’s trainer Phil Costello a text message last week to see if she could drive the gelding in the Pat Cranley Memorial, but never heard back.
It wasn’t until she saw the nominations for the race, she saw she had the drive and with Chris Voak sticking with Perfect Major, Suvaljko found herself with a Fremantle Cup drive too.
“It’s a big thrill and I haven’t really got the words for it,” Suvaljko said.
“It’s my first Group 1 drive and it does help having a horse that loves the distance.
“Phil hasn’t put any pressure on me either, so to win the race for him would be great.”
Suvaljko spent a lot of time helping Colin Brown and Dylan Egerton-Green early in her career and said they were very helpful in getting her drives.
On Friday night Suvaljko will come up against Egerton-Green and Brown, who team up with last year’s WA Pacing Cup quinella Mighty Conqueror and Vampiro respectively.
Roberts, 25, said she was grateful for the opportunity team Bond have given her throughout 2020 and felt it would prove to be a key turning point in her career.
“I moved to Greg and Skye’s because I needed something different,” she said.
“I’ve never worked in a big stable before and I’ve learnt so much there in a short space of time.
“I now know how to drive horses of the calibre of the Pacing Cup calibre and my driving has definitely improved out of sight.”
Both Roberts and Suvaljko, who have driven 183 and 174 winners respectively, said they would have to ease off the gate from their wide draws on Friday night and hope the fancied runners get involved in a hot speed battle early in the race.
It seems only too fitting they will start next to each other on the outside of the front line and will likely be near each other in the run.
“It’s good for the females and it will help getting our name out there,” Suvaljko said.
“Both Deni and I have been on the same path as junior drivers, even though she did start before me.
“I know we will probably both be 100-1 but to be able to drive at this level is very exciting.”
Roberts said she was also happy for another female concession driver to be getting a shot in the Fremantle Cup.
“Emily has come through the grades so quickly,” she said.
“We are at pretty much every trot meeting together, so it’s pretty cool to get our first shot at the Fremantle Cup together.
“It’ll be different before the race and I’ll be nervous, but I think if you aren’t nervous you shouldn’t be out there.”
Both Roberts and Suvaljko are the very definition of hard workers and barely a moment goes by where they aren’t keeping busy.
Come Friday night they will be matching it with some of the best drivers Australia has to offer in a race so highly sought after.
Both in their 20’s, both with so much to look forward to in harness racing.
