Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr is making a concerted bid to win the Christmas Gift and he has bright prospects of winning the three qualifying heats at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Up-and-coming four-year-old Herrick Roosevelt has a 56 per cent winning record and looks outstanding in the first heat; Zach Maguire is in superb form and is capable of overcoming the disadvantage of starting from the outside of the back line and winning heat two; and Lets Chase The Dream should appreciate a massive drop in class and should fight out the finish in the third heat.
All three pacers will be handled by star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr Horses filling the first four placings in each of the 2130m heats will qualify for the final on Friday of next week.
Herrick Roosevelt, a winner of nine of his 16 starts, is handily drawn at barrier four on the front line in the first qualifying heat. He is a versatile performer who warmed up for this week’s assignment in fine style when he started from the inside of the back line and raced three back on the pegs in fifth position. He was sixth on the home turn before finishing fast along the inside to be third behind Ultimate Machete and Maczaffair in the $200,000 Golden Slipper.
At his previous outing, a fortnight earlier, he raced without a trail for much of the way and fought on doggedly to finish fourth behind Ultimate Machete in the $125,000 Yes Loans Four-Year-Old Classic.
His chief rivals appear to be the Ross Olivieri trained four-year-old Wrappers Delight and the Skye Bond trained ten-year-old Courage Tells, who will be having his 164th start in a race.
Wrappers Delight (Chris Lewis) impressed last Friday night when he sustained a spirited three-wide burst in the middle stages to come from eighth to finish a close third behind Skippy Rascal and Simba Bromac. He is sure to have many admirers from the favourable No. 2 barrier on Friday night.
Courage Tells (Ryan Warwick) is well drawn at barrier three after his shock victory at tote odds of $114.50 last Friday night when he started from barrier eight, raced on the pegs in ninth position and overcame interference 300m from home to get up and beat Johnny Disco and Three Blind Mice.
Zach Maguire has resumed after a spell in fine style, with a win and three seconds from four starts. He caught the eye with a bold performance last Friday week when he was last in a field of seven at the bell before sustaining a strong three-wide burst to finish second, a head behind the pacemaker Condrieu.
His powerful finish should enable him to defeat Itz Bettor To Win, Skippy Rascal, Walkinshaw and Im Rockaria.
Itz Bettor To Win has been freshened up since he started off 20m and raced wide early and then in the breeze before finishing a close second to Maximum Demand over 2503m. He had a similar tough passage before winning a 2536m mobile event two starts before that. The six-year-old, who has had 34 starts for 12 wins and eight seconds, will again be driven by champion Chris Lewis for trainer Ross Olivieri.
Skippy Rascal, trained and driven by Callan Suvaljko, will have many admirers from the favourable No. 2 barrier on the front line. The experienced eight-year-old notched his 17th victory from 135 starts when he sat behind the pacemaker Simba Bromac and finished strongly to beat that promising four-year-old last Friday night.
Walkinshaw and Im Rockaria will start from the back line and cannot be discounted. Each pacer has raced eight times this season for four wins.
Lets Chase The Dream, who has amassed $490,835 in prizemoney from his 15 wins and 12 placings from 43 starts, is handily drawn at barrier three on the front line in the third heat and is sure to appreciate a very big drop in class after being unplaced in three heats of the TABtouch Inter Dominion championship series.
He is a good frontrunner who led all the way over 2185m at Pinjarra five starts ago. His chief rival is likely to be the Skye Bond-trained four-year-old Rock Diamonds, who raced three wide early and then without cover for two laps before wilting to eighth behind Ultimate Machete in the Golden Nugget last Friday night.
At his previous outing, a week earlier, Rock Diamonds gave a strong frontrunning display to win the Group 2 Westral Four-Year-Old Championship from Space Junk and Motu Meteor.
