21 January 2021 | Ken Casellas
New Zealand-bred mare Divinia Bellezza has won only seven times from 61 starts, but she looms as a great value bet when she contests the 2536m Subscribe to The West Online Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
She is a splendid stayer who has won over 2500m and 2600m in New Zealand and her four runs over 2536m at Gloucester Park have resulted in two wins, a third placing and an eye-catching eighth.
Her eighth was at her most recent outing, behind Extradite over 2536m on Tuesday of last week. She was ninth at the bell before charging home, out six wide. It was a most impressive performance. She dashed over the final 800m in 55.8sec. and the last 400m in 27.7sec.
Divinia Bellezza, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, will start from the No. 7 barrier and Ryan Warwick is likely to make full use of the mare’s powerful finishing burst. Her chief rivals are expected to be the Michael Brennan-trained Sweet Maddison and Ross Olivieri’s Run For Mercy, a last-start all-the-way winner who will start from the No. 6 barrier.
The Bond stable also appears to have a stranglehold on the $25,000 Ray Duffy Memorial over 2536m in which they will be represented by the two youngest and least experienced runners, New Zealand-bred four-year-olds Patronus Star and Howard Hughes.
Ryan Warwick will drive Patronus Star, winner of the WA Derby last April, from the prized No. 1 barrier, while Howard Hughes (who finished fast along the sprint lane to beat Patronus Star at Pinjarra two starts ago) will be handled by Deni Roberts from barrier five.
Patronus Star is a good frontrunner who looks the likely leader who will make life tough for his opponents. He was unlucky in the $50,000 Four-Year-Old Championship last Friday night when he began smartly before a tyre of his sulky deflated, forcing Warwick to ease him out of the event only 300m after the start.
Howard Hughes started from the inside of the back line in that event and raced three back on the pegs but was badly hampered for room in the final circuit and finished ninth behind Magnificent Storm.
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