by Ken Casellas
The random barrier draw has thrown the $25,000 final of the Garrard’s Horse And Hound Schrader Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night into the melting pot, with all preconceived plans now utterly worthless.
Brilliant four-year-old Nathans Courage has been set a task after drawing the outside barrier (No. 9) on the front line in the 2130m event. He certainly has the class to overcome this disadvantage at his second outing after a seven-month absence but he will need just a slice of luck.
The in-form Thereugo, another four-year-old who possesses dazzling gate speed and is a superb frontrunner, will not be the pacemaker after being the only pacer drawn on the back line.
In what should prove to be a keen betting affair, the Ross Olivieri trained five-year-old Military Master gets a good chance for a feature success after drawing the No. 2 barrier. Chris Lewis will again be in the sulky behind Military Master, who has excellent gate speed however, getting to an early lead is not expected to be an easy task, with Rabchenko starting from the prized No. 1 barrier.
Rabchenko’s normal racing pattern when favourably drawn is to set the pace. Whether this will be the plan for breeder-owner-trainer Kevin Charles and reinsman Chris Voak remains to be seen. Rabchenko has a losing sequence of 12 and has managed just one placing from his past seven starts.
If Rabchenko holds up and is the early leader, Lewis could be content to rate Military Master in the breeze. Military Master, whose 36 starts have produced ten wins, nine seconds and two thirds, was outstanding in finishing a short-half-head second to Livura in a qualifying heat last Friday week. Military Master started from barrier six and settled down in eighth position before he sustained a powerful burst from seventh (three wide with a trail) at the bell to fail by centimetres.
Nathans Courage began fast from his wide draw (No. 7) in a qualifying heat last Friday night and he had a tough run without a trail when Thereugo and Dana Duke were engaged in a titanic struggle for the lead which resulted in Thereugo eventually gaining the front after 750m. The lead time was a scorching 33.7sec.
Nathans Courage refused to give in after working in the breeze all the way and his third behind the fast-finishing Johnny Disco and Thereugo was a wonderful effort.
Johnny Disco, trained at Pinjarra by Ross Ashby and driven by Aldo Cortopassi, has struck top form with a vengeance, finishing powerfully to win stylishly at his past two outings the past two Friday nights. He is handily drawn at barrier four on Friday night and Cortopassi is sure to be angling for an ideal passage in the one-wide line before asking the four-year-old to unwind a typical sparkling finishing burst.
The Gary Elson trained Ideal Tyson (Barrier 7) and stablemates from the Gary Hall Snr Serpentine establishment in Overboard Again (No. 8) and Whozideawasthis (No. 6) are racing keenly and worth considering.
Ideal Tyson overcame barrier eight to score a narrow victory over Soho Chelsea last Friday night to improve his record to 48 starts for 19 wins and 16 placings for stakes of $181,724. He was tenth early, started a three-wide move 1050m from home and burst to the front at the 350m mark.
Gary Hall Jnr will drive Whozideawasthis, whose first four starts in WA have produced an all the way win and three second placings. Clint Hall will handle Overboard Again, a winner at nine of his 24 starts, and Lauren Jones will be in the sulky behind stablemate Mach Time.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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