With preferences given to mares, Wonderful To Fly, as the only female pacer in the $31,000 Joe and Margaret Petricevich Memorial Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night, automatically drew the prized No. 1 barrier.
The inside barrier produces, by far, the greatest percentage of winners at Gloucester Park --- and Wonderful To Fly, part-owned, trained and driven by Shane Young, boasts a splendid record from this barrier at this track, having begun from No. 1 eleven times in her fabulous career of 77 starts for 33 wins, 21 placings and $856,978 for six all-the-way victories, two seconds and three unplaced efforts.
Wonderful To Fly will be making her first appearance for eight weeks but she showed that she is poised for a powerful first-up effort with a eye-catching win in a 2185m trial at Pinjarra on Wednesday of last week when she began from the outside barrier on the front line and was restrained back to last in the field of nine.
She was eighth with 600m to travel when Young switched her three wide, and she sprinted brilliantly to burst to the front 150m later and then careered away to win easily from Bling It Up, rating 1.57.9.
While Wonderful To Fly is a smart beginner, she is likely to be tested for early speed by fast starters Hotly Pursued, Rockandrollartist and Captain Confetti. If she happens to be crossed at the start, she will then enjoy a favourable sit, giving her the opportunity to take advantage of her sit-sprinting ability.
Wonderful To Fly’s chief rivals are likely to by Better Eclipse (barrier No. 9) and My Watchlist (inside of the back line) --- smart pacers who fought out the finish of a 2130m event last Friday night when My Watchlist, aided by advantageous inside runs in the final lap, got to the front in the last 25m to beat Better Eclipse by just under a length, rating 1.55.5 after final 400m sections of 27.6sec. and 28.9sec.
Eight-year-old Better Eclipse, trained and driven by Gary Hall jnr, is racing with commendable spirit and should fight out the finish despite starting from the outside barrier.
Fat Louie, trained and driven by Chris Voak, rises in class and faces a stern test from out wide at barrier seven. He bounced back to his best form last Friday week when he worked hard early and then enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before finishing determinedly to snatch a head victory over Bettor Arcade.
