19 March 2020 | Ken Casellas
The all-conquering training partnership of Greg and Skye Bond continues at full throttle and punters will be keen to support two runners from their Forrestdale establishment who will be out to maintain their unbeaten records at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Ryan Warwick will drive The Bird Dance from barrier four in race six and Captain Kirk from barrier six in race eight. Neither pacer has tasted defeat at Gloucester Park, with The Bird Dance winning at his three appearances at the track and Captain Kirk being successful at his four starts there.
The Bird Dance, a lightly-raced four-year-old, will be resuming after an absence of 12 weeks. After winning at two of his five starts in New Zealand The Bird Dance has won at each of his seven starts in Western Australia and his clash with the extremely promising and inexperienced six-year-old Sir Galahad promises to be a highlight of the ten-event program.
Sir Galahad, prepared at Serpentine by Gary Hall Snr, will start from the No. 6 barrier with Stuart McDonald in the sulky and is sure to prove very hard to beat. The gelding was untroubled to win from Sergeant Oats at a 1.55.3 rate over 1730m last Friday night when he worked in the breeze outside the pacemaker Dominate The Dojo before racing clear in the final stages. That was his eighth win from only 13 starts.
Five-year-old Captain Kirk has the ability to overcome the disadvantage of an awkward draw in a 2536m event in which he looks set to receive plenty of opposition in an even field. His 14 starts in WA have produced six wins and five placings. His four Gloucester Park appearances have resulted in three wins over 1730m and an all-the-way victory from Grinny Vinnie over 2536m.
The Bonds hold a substantial lead in the WA trainers’ premiership table, with 105 winners this season well ahead of Ross Olivieri (66 winners), Hall (53) and Aiden de Campo (44).
Hall has bright prospects of making a flying start to Friday night’s meeting by winning the opening event with the up-and-coming four-year-old My Carbon Copy, who will be driven by McDonald from the prized No. 1 barrier. The New Zealand-bred gelding is a smart beginner who should be capable of winning the start and setting the pace over the 1730m journey.
Hes Royal Blue has good gate speed and is favourably drawn at barrier two. He has led at 17 of his 34 starts for six wins, four seconds and three thirds. But he is unlikely to be able to muster sufficient early speed to cross My Carbon Copy.
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