Millionaire star pacer Beaudiene Boaz is poised to notch his twelfth win in a group feature event by proving too strong and speedy for his 11 rivals in the $60,000 Village Kid Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The brilliant New Zealand-bred five-year-old boasts the longest losing sequence (eight) of his magnificent 42-start career, but he is cherry ripe to bounce back to winning form.
And his task of winning the 2130m Village Kid Pace was made significantly easier when he drew favourably at the No. 2 barrier on the front line. Gary Hall jun. should have no difficulty in sending Beaudiene Boaz straight to the front, with Shannon Suvaljko appearing certain to be content to take the trail with veteran pacer and polemarker El Machine, who has managed just one placing from his past 19 starts.
Twelve months ago Beaudiene Boaz set the pace from the No. 1 barrier and won the 1730m Village Kid Sprint in convincing fashion from stablemates My Hard Copy, John of Arc and Waylade. He went on to win the Fremantle Cup before finishing third in the WA Pacing Cup at his next two starts.
Now owners Beth Richardson, Glen Moore, Karen Hall, Andrew Curran, Gary Ralston and Matt Walker are looking forward confidently to Beaudiene Boaz going one better by winning the treble of the $60,000 Village Kid Pace, the $300,000 Fremantle Cup and the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup.
Curiously, the Village Kid Sprint has been renamed the Village Kid Pace to be run over 2130m. The Village Kid Sprint was formerly known as the Celebrity Sprint and was renamed in 2012 to honour the former superstar pacer who died earlier that year.
The first 18 runnings of this feature event were decided over 1609m in its first year (1998) and then over 1700m (six times), 1740m (twice), 1742m (twice) and 1730m (seven times).
Beaudiene Boaz will be a hot odds-on favourite in Friday night’s event, a far cry from when he won the first of his six group 1 events, the $150,000 Emerald for two-year-olds at Cambridge in May 2014 when he was making his final appearance in New Zealand.
Driven by Zac Butcher, Beaudiene Boaz was a $38.90 outsider when he raced three back on the pegs before charging home, four wide, to snatch a last-stride head victory from Bettor Spirits, rating 1.54, a track record for a two-year-old over 1700m.
Since then Beaudiene Boaz has won another five group 1 events — the 2014 Golden Slipper, the WA Derby, McInerney Ford Classic and Golden Nugget Championship in 2015 and the 2016 Fremantle Cup. He has also won three group 2 events and two group 3 races.
Beaudiene Boaz has been freshened up since competing strongly at the TABtouch Interdominion Championship series in which he finished second to Lennytheshark, fourth to Hectorjayjay and second to Smolda in qualifying heats before finishing a splendid third behind Smolda and Hectorjayjay in the final.
He holds the track record for 2130m — a 1.52.9 rate which he set when he came from last in the middle stages to easily beat Bettors Fire in the Navy Cup last September.
Beaudiene Boaz is one of four runners trained by Gary Hall sen. In Friday night’s race, the others being star four-year-old Chicago Bull, Cyamach and Ideal Alice.
Chicago Bull, a winner at 16 of his 27 starts, cannot be underestimated. He gave another sample of his class two starts ago when he was 11th in the middle stages before surging home, out wide, from ninth at the bell to score an easy win over Vanquished in the group 1 McInerney Ford Classic over 2536m at a 1.54.9 rate.
Then, two weeks later, Chicago Bull started out wide at barrier eight and was 11th with two laps to travel before finishing determinedly from seventh at the bell to be third behind Soho Tribeca and Nathans Courage in the 2536m group 1 Golden Nugget Championship. The final two quarters, off the front, were covered in 28.1sec. and 27.5sec.
Hall has won the Village Kid Sprint (Celebrity Sprint) a record four times — with The Falcon Strike (2003), Rakarebel (2011), Hokonui Ben (2013) and Beaudiene Boaz (12 months ago). He has also trained three second placegetters — Franco Amon (2007), Talk To Me Courage (2009) and My Hard Copy (on January 1 this year).
The State’s leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond have three runners in the Village Kid Pace, with Our Jimmy Johnstone (Ryan Warwick) their best prospect from the No. 5 barrier on the front line, ahead of Franco Nelson (Ryan Bell at barrier six) and Change Stride (Chris Lewis) facing a difficult task from the outside of the back line.
Our Jimmy Johnstone is a quality performer who maintained his good form with an excellent, close-up third behind Cyamach and Ultimate Art in the 2936m Interdominion Championship Consolation three Fridays ago after racing three wide in the early stages and then in the breeze.
Mynameskenny, a smart five-year-old trained at Byford by John Oldroyd, has won at 21 of his 40 starts and is handily drawn at barrier three on the front line. Reinsman Chris Voak will be hoping to gain an ideal passage, one-out and one-back with Mynameskenny, who enjoyed a similar run when he sprinted home fast to beat the pacemaker Cyamach and Waylade over 2130m last Friday week.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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