08 February 2018 | Ken Casellas
Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr has nine runners at Gloucester Park on Friday night and he has little hesitation in declaring his brightest prospect is four-year-old Runrunjimmydunn in the Trotsynd The Cheapest And Easiest Way To Own A Horse Pace.
Runrunjimmydunn has drawn out wide at barrier eight on the front line in the 2130m event, but Hall does not see this as a serious problem.
“His run when second to Better B Chevron in the Village Kid Sprint at Northam last Saturday was super and he should win on Friday night,” declared Hall.
Runrunjimmydunn met with a nasty check soon after the start of the race at Northam when New World Order broke into a gallop and he settled down in sixth position. Gary Hall Jnr then dashed Runrunjimmydunn forward and into the breeze 400m later and the New Zealand-bred gelding fought on determinedly to be a neck second to the pacemaker Better B Chevron after final quarters of 28.6sec. and 27.2sec.
The main danger to Runrunjimmydunn could well be Chuck Norris, who is favourably drawn at No. 2 on the front line. Chuck Norris led from barrier one last Friday night when a fighting half-head second to Brotha Ofa Gangsta.
The Hall stable also has excellent prospects in the opening event, the 2130m TABtouch Pace in which Overboard Again makes strong appeal at his second appearance after a five-month absence.
Overboard Again, a lightly-raced New Zealand-bred five-year-old, is favourably drawn at the No. 2 barrier on the front line in the 2130m event and Gary Hall Jnr is expected to make use of the gelding’s good gate speed.
Overboard Again was driven by Corey Peterson when he gave a splendid first-up performance at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening. He was restrained at the starts and impressed when he sustained a powerful three-wide burst to charge home from last at the bell to finish third behind stablemate and pacemaker Machiatto, with final quarters in 28.6sec. and 28.2sec., with the winner rating 1.57.7 over 2130m.
“It was a super first-up run and he should go close on Friday night,” said Hall Snr.
Overboard Again will not have things all his own way against last-start winners Real Lucky, Messi and Ima Rocknroll Legend.
Real Lucky, driven by Hall Jnr for Waroona trainer Bob Mellsop, was a stylish all-the-way winner over Lord Lexus and El Machine last Friday night. That was his sixth victory from his past nine starts and Mellsop has engaged Deni Roberts to drive Real Lucky this week in order to use her junior concession and gain a favourable barrier.
Roberts drove Real Lucky to a strong win over Tisadream over 2100m at Bunbury four starts ago.
“He’s a good frontrunner, but is not one-dimensional,” Mellsop said. “And he’s got strings to his bow we haven’t seen yet. He will be going forward at the start on Friday night.”
Messi, trained by Skye Bond, will start from barrier four on the front line and should be prominent after his impressive last-start victory last Saturday week when Ryan Warwick brought him home with a strong burst from ninth at the bell and sixth with 220m to travel.
Ima Rocknroll Legend, with Peterson in the sulky, will start out wide at barrier seven, but cannot be underestimated following his brilliant all-the-way victory by four lengths over Bronze Seeker last Friday night when he rated 1.55.6 over 2130m.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
