02 August 2018 | Ken Casellas
Promising colt Bee Seventeen has been his own worst enemy with his inclination to pull hard in his races, but reinsman Aldo Cortopassi is enthusiastic at his winning prospects in the final event, the TABtouch, The Brand That Funds The Industry Pace, at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The Aiden Warwick-trained Bee Seventeen has drawn perfectly at the No. 1 barrier on the front line in the 2130m event and Cortopassi said: “I give him a really good each-way chance.”
Bee Seventeen started from barrier four in a 2185m event at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon when he raced three wide for the first 450m before getting to the front where he over-raced and was overtaken 270m from home by Bettor B Abeliever, who won from Fight Song, with Bee Seventeen fighting on determinedly to be fourth, less than a length from the winner.
“That’s just him, unfortunately,” said Cortopassi. “He always wants to over-race and pull. We’ve found that to stop him pulling, stops him running. There’s a happy medium with him, so sometimes it is better off losing the battle to win the war. This week we’ll be trying a running head-check and a different bit on him to see if we can get him to relax.
“We have never really fired him off the gate, even though he has good natural speed but from one this week he’s got enough gate speed without having to fire him up. At Pinjarra on Monday he was still there at the finish and was beaten by about a length.
“He’s a funny little horse; if you try to drive him sit and sprint, he hasn’t got the necessary acceleration. Whenever he leads in trackwork it takes a good horse to run him down. If we can hold the front on Friday without firing him up and hopefully get a softish or reasonable lead time and a first quarter in around 30.5sec. or 31sec. he will be hard to beat. Then if he wants to light up over the final 1200 metres he can get the roller skates on and get running.
“He’s one of those horses, you’ve got to lose the battle to win the war. If you go to war with him, he’s bigger and stronger than me and he’ll win the battle more times than he doesn’t. He’s a good, honest little racehorse and this is a good race for him.”
Cortopassi also has high hopes of winning the first event on the program, with smart four-year-old Major Pocket, who is ideally drawn at barrier No.2 on the front line in the 2130m Book Into The $50 Beau Rivage Buffet Special Pace.
Major Pocket, trained at Mt Helena by Ray Williams, is sure to appreciate a drop in class after his excellent fifth placing behind quality pacers Tyler Brett, Simba Bromac and Jimmy Mack in the Group 3 John Higgins Memorial last Friday night.
“He was doing his best work on the line last week,” Cortopassi said. “If he can find the front I reckon that The Freedom Fighter will have to be 100 per cent to beat him.” The Freedom Fighter, a New Zealand-bred five-year-old trained by Greg and Skye Bond, is extremely versatile and capable of overcoming the distinct disadvantage of starting from out wide at barrier eight.
The Freedom Fighter was untroubled to lead all the way from barrier one last Friday night to record his sixth consecutive victory and move to an M2 classification. Major Pocket is the only M0-class pacer in the field, which includes M4-class performer Argyle Red, but has the class to beat The Freedom Fighter, Argyle Red and eight M1-class performers.
Argyle Red, trained at Pinjarra by Rob MacDonald, will be having his first start for four months, but indicated that he was poised for a strong first-up effort when he sprinted over the final quarter in 27sec. in scoring a runaway win in a 2185m trial at Pinjarra on Sunday morning.
Cortopassi will also drive Major Pocket’s stablemate Millwood Sienna in the $7 Pints At JP’s Sportsbar Pace. Millwood Sienna, a winner at ten of her 40 starts, will begin on the inside of the back line.
“That’s not the best draw for her,” Cortopassi said. “She prefers to get up and get rolling. She’s a monster mare with a monster stride. Last week she drew ten (inside of the back line) and really struggled to hold the leader’s back off the gate. She needs to be rolling; she doesn’t have that point-to-point acceleration and sit and sprint is not her cup of tea.”
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