All eyes will be on the return to racing of the talented but injury plagued WA-bred six-year-old Rockokoko, who will begin from the No. 6 barrier in the opening event, the 2130m Sunday Times Pace, at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Rockokoko, to be driven by his trainer Aiden de Campo, will be making his first appearance for 22 months, but he is sure to prove hard to beat following an impressive win in a 2185m trial at Pinjarra on Wednesday of last week.
He began from barrier two in a field of four in the trial when he mustered plenty of pace and dashed to the front after 100m before setting a solid pace and beating Chekker by seven lengths, rating 1.57.6 after final 400m sections of 26.9sec. and 28.5sec.
“I was happy with his trial and his work since has been very good,” said de Campo. “He is quite a nice horse, but he had been brushing a knee and galloped in a previous trial. And I have kinda sorted that out. I’ve got go-straights on him and have put a head check on him as well. He should be hard to beat.”
On paper, Rockokoko’s chief danger appears to be the Michael Young-trained Hi Suga Rush, who is favourably drawn at the No. 2 barrier.
The New Zealand-bred Hi Suga Rush has a losing sequence of eleven, with his most recent victory being when he set the pace and beat Codename Marcus in Bunbury twelve months ago.
Hi Suga Rush was restrained at the start from the outside barrier before running on from the rear to finish seventh behind Rakero Raider over 2130m last Friday night.
Hi Suga Rush will be driven by Emily Suvaljko, who said: “He has good gate speed, but he has probably not been great lately. However, there doesn’t look like much speed out of the gate this week when there is a query on Rockokoko.
“I was in a trial a couple of weeks ago when Rockokoko was galloping and doing things wrong. So, I don’t know whether they will push him out of the gate. So, we might be able to get a nice easy lead.”
Liam Elliott has given punters a good lead by choosing to drive Oh Miki from barrier two on the back line in preference to Fly To The Finish, who will start from barrier five and will be handled by Deni Roberts.
Oh Miki, trained by Ryan Bell, is in sound form, with a win and two seconds from his past four starts.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Rockstar Quality has been placed at his past four starts, and he should again be prominent from out wide at barrier eight for Chris Voak.
“He is a little ATM who is probably not going to win many races,” said Olivieri. “He reminds me very much of Quick Stride, who won five races at Gloucester Park (as well as another eight on country tracks).
“Quick Stride would just sit and ping. And Rockstar Quality has a good turn of foot, and he showed good guts at his latest start when he hung on for third. He is always a chance.”
Liam Elliott has given punters a good lead by choosing to drive Rakero Raider in preference to Whataretheodds in the 2130m The Nightly Pace.
Rakero Raider was handled by Elliott from the outside of the back line when the gelding, prepared by Wanneroo trainer Craig Saligari, charged home from tenth position with 250m to travel to win brilliantly from Lord Titanium last Friday night.
This week Rakero Raider will begin from the No. 5 barrier on the front line, and he has bright prospects of notching another win, while Whataretheodds, trained by Ryan Bell, will be driven by Ryan Warwick from out wide at barrier eight at his second outing after a spell.
Whataretheodds should benefit from his first-up effort last Friday week when driven by Warwick, he trailed the pacemaker Better Eclipse and wilted to finish eighth behind My Watchlist. Elliott was in the sulky when Whataretheodds unwound a powerful burst to win at a 1.55.1 rate over 2130m at his previous appearance, at Gloucester Park early last July.
