22 February 2018 | Ken Casellas
Former star juvenile pacer Itsallabout Nicole will take the first steps on a comeback trail when he contests the opening event, the Gong XI Fa Cai Pace, at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Ace reinsman Gary Hall Jnr, fresh from four winners at Pinjarra on Monday and a treble at Gloucester Park on Tuesday, will drive the 11-year-old who will start from the No. 4 barrier on the front line of the 2130m event.
Herne Hill trainer Kevin Keys, who bred and owns Itsallabout Nicole with Ron Gaunt, said that the Courage Under Fire gelding broke down in a race at Northam in February 2015 with tendon and suspensory ligament damage before failing in a comeback attempt at Bunbury in June 2015.
So, it is now 32 and a half months since Itsallabout Nicole raced, and recent trial performances have been encouraging and have indicated the gelding is capable of a strong first-up showing.
After finishing fourth in a trial at Pinjarra on January 28, Itsallabout Nicole ran two sound trials at Byford on the first two Sundays in February. Driven by Hall, he raced three back on the pegs and finished a well-beaten third behind Tricky Styx (1.57.9) in a field of five, with final quarters in 28.3sec. and 28.8sec.
Then, the following Sunday, with Deni Roberts in the sulky, Itsallabout Nicole sat behind the pacemaker Rowan Skipper and took the lead 30m from home before finishing a head second to the fast-finishing Princess Major (1.59.6), with final quarters of 29.1sec. and 28.9sec.
“He travelled well in his latest trial and Deni did not knock him around,” Keys said. “He’s got a chance to finish in the top four on Friday night.”
Keys said that he gave Itsallabout Nicole (named after Gaunt’s stepdaughter Nicole) plenty of time to recover from his injuries during two years out in a paddock. “Late last year he was looking well and vet students who come to my place were riding him,” Keys said. “So, I decided to give him a chance at a comeback, and I’m very happy with him.”
Itsallabout Nicole was an outstanding two-year-old, winning the Western Crown Classic and the Group 1 Pearl Classic in April and June 2009. He has raced 58 times for 12 wins, 17 placings and $174,471 in prizemoney. Keys and Gaunt bred the gelding, who is out of Victorian-bred mare Snookanite, who was driven by Keys in all her nine starts for two thirds (at Gloucester Park and Northam), before Keys retired her to the breeding barn.
That was a wise decision. Snookanite produced Cassie Rox, who earned $152,492 from her 17 wins and 21 placings from 85 starts for Keys and Gaunt.
Keys and Gaunt also bred and race Kristian Robert, a four-year-old out of Cassie Rox, who has won once and been placed seven times from 26 starts. Kristian Robert was a 60/1 outsider at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening when he raced behind the pacemaker The Marble Ridge and finished third behind Red October.
Kristian Robert will start from barrier four and has sound each-way prospects in the China Town Comes to Gloucester Park Pace on Friday night. “Ryan Warwick will drive him and he will go nicely,” said Keys.
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