20 May 2021 | Ken Casellas
Striking black gelding Crocodile Kid celebrated his 100th start in a race by leading and winning the 2130m Westral Pace at Gloucester Park on Tuesday night.
His victory as a $9.80 chance over Euphoric Moment at his second appearance after a let-up ended a losing sequence of 23 and eight consecutive unplaced efforts and now Wanneroo trainer Craig Saligari has high hopes the seven-year-old will repeat the dose when he again starts from the coveted No. 1 barrier in the 2130m TABtouch Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“Hopefully, he will do exactly the same on Friday,” said Saligari, who races the Armbro Operative gelding in partnership with Chris Plozza. “He has pulled up good, his heart rate is good and his wind is really good.”
Crocodile Kid will again be driven by Chris Lewis, who rated the gelding perfectly in his win on Tuesday night. Explaining Crocodile Kid’s spasmodic appearances over the past five months, Saligari said that the gelding had been suffering from a quarter crack.
“We have been looking after the horse and the farrier is now very happy with the condition of his troublesome hoof,” he said.
There is little exposed form among the runners in Friday night’s TABtouch Pace, with Crocodile Kid’s possible dangers including Rocknroll Whitby, Pierre Whitby and the Debbie Padberg-trained pair of Bad Round and Bettys Lass.
Eight-year-old Rocknroll Whitby is favourably drawn at barrier two, and the gelding who has a losing sequence of 19, will be driven by Gary Hall Jnr, who has handled him only once when he started off the 20m mark and finished eighth behind Crime Scene at Gloucester Park on December 18, 2018, 53 starts ago.
Bettys Lass is awkwardly drawn at barrier six, the same barrier she had last Friday night when she was the smartest to begin and then trailed the pacemaker Smart Fortune before finishing fifth behind that pacer over 2536m.
“She showed really good gate speed last week, so I’ll speak to Debbie to see what she wants to do this week, whether to go forward or go back and run home,” said driver Emily Suvaljko.
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