Shannon Suvaljko... Photo by Scott Hamilton Media
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Neighlor is the youngest and least experienced runner in the TABtouch Pace over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night, but he should prove to be very hard to beat, even from the awkward barrier No. 6 over the sprint trip.
He has been freshened up by Serpentine trainer Matt Scott and should perform strongly at his first appearance for seven weeks, with Shannon Suvaljko, last season’s leading driver, in the sulky.
Neighlor will be racing for the first time as a five-year-old after impressing last season when his 28 starts produced ten wins and six placings. He possesses excellent gate speed, but he could find it difficult to burst to an early led, with fast beginners Ideal Diamante (No. 1), Cyclone Mitch (two) and Tanaka Eagle (three) drawn inside of him.
Ideal Diamante, an eight-year-old trained by Scott, will be driven by Micheal Ferguson. He is a smart frontrunner, but has been unplaced at his past six starts since he set the pace and won from Trust My Judgment and Pacific Playboy over 2636m at Narrogin in July. He raced four back on the pegs and ran on well to finish an encouraging fourth behind Kerrin Joseph over 1730m last Friday week.
Ten-year-old Cyclone Mitch, to be driven by Giles Inwood for trainer Tony Svilicich, will be having his third start after a 14-month absence and is capable of improvement after his fading fifth behind Rock Me Over over 2130m last Friday night.
He revealed excellent gate speed from barrier five last Friday night, but was trapped four wide for the first 250m before he gained an ideal passage, one-out and one-back. He wilted over the final 500m.
Inwood is the 26th driver to have handled Cyclone Mitch in his 119-start career which has produced 17 wins and 27 placings. He has scored all-the-way victories in seven of his wins. He showed plenty of early promise and won on debut, as a two-year-old at Gloucester Park in December 2010. Later that season he started at 10/1 and led early and then sat behind the pacemaker before finishing strongly to win the $100,000 State Sires Series for colts and geldings, beating Soho Monza and Glow Bright.
Tanaka Eagle, a veteran of 190 starts, has been unplaced at his past 11 starts but he drops in class here and is capable of a return to his best form for owner-trainer Reg Phillips.
