19 March 2020 | Ken Casellas
The aptly-named two-year-old colt Mighty Ronaldo is poised to open his winning account by proving the master of his four opponents in the $25,000 Intersport Slater Gartrell Western Crown Classic for colts and geldings at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
By former champion pacer Alta Christiano, he has been named after Portuguese world soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo whose net worth is estimated at $460 million.
Mighty Ronaldo, who is trained and driven by Justin Prentice, has earned $1581 from his first two starts that produced a first-up fifth at Gloucester Park followed by an impressive close-up second to The Good Life over 1609m at Bunbury on March 3. A win this week would boost his earnings by $15,113.
“His was a good run last start,” said Prentice. “He sat in the breeze and the final quarter was run in 26.9sec. He couldn’t have gone much better; he was just beaten by a good one. This race on Friday night looks a good one for him.”
Mighty Ronaldo will start from barrier three and is sure to be prominent throughout in the small field. His chief rivals appear to be the polemarker and Glenn Elliott-trained Soho Gigolo and the Mike Reed-trained Our Shelley Beach.
Soho Gigolo, to be driven by Chris Voak, should be improved by his debut performance last Friday night when he raced three back on the pegs in fourth place before fighting on to finish second, eight lengths behind the flying pacemaker Black Jack Baby. Our Shelley Beach also made his debut in last week’s race in which he raced in seventh and last position before improving to finish a well-beaten fourth.
Black Jack Baby, trained at Pinjarra by David Young and unbeaten at her four starts, has sound prospects improving her record by winning the $25,000 Intersport Slater Gartrell Western Crown for two-year-old fillies.
Driven by Chris Voak, Black Jack Baby began brilliantly from barrier three and sped over the final quarters in 28.6sec. and 28.2sec. when she won in effortless fashion last Friday night. She will start from barrier five this week and is likely to be tested by the Debra Lewis-trained Rumour Has It, who will be driven by Chris Lewis from the outside barrier in the field of six.
Rumour Has It gave an impressive frontrunning display to win by seven and a half lengths from Letsdancetonight at a 1.56.3 rate over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Tuesday of last week. That followed a first-up fifth to Black Jack Baby at Pinjarra and a fast-finishing second to Cheddar Is Better over 1684m at Pinjarra.
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