by Wayne Curral
Brilliant two-year-old filly Cott Beach has been given a freshen up by Blythewood trainer Gary Elson and will prove the testing material in the $30,000 Westsired 2YO Pace (2130m) at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Cott Beach burst on to the scene with a slashing last-to-first victory in the $50,000 Champagne Classic (2130m) in April. On that occasion, race driver Nathan Turvey dropped the Advance Attack filly to the rear of the field and then brought her with a barnstorming finish that saw her swamp the leaders in the straight to win running away. It was the run of a horse with the potential to add much more to her stakes of more than $52,000.
Since Cott Beach’s win in the Champagne Classic, she has finished fourth and second behind the smart Miss Sangrial – and there were legitimate excuses for the filly’s efforts on both occasions. Her run to finish fourth behind Miss Sangrial at Bunbury in May was out of character. Turvey told stewards after the race that Cott Beach became unsettled after a false start and when the race did get under way she over-raced and pulled herself into the ground after racing wide and at the back of the field behind winner Miss Sangrial. Then at headquarters at her next start she finished second, beaten only 4.6m behind Miss Sangrial after matching motors down the back straight and all the way to the line.
At GP on Friday night, Cott Beach will come out of gate two and most punters will expect Turvey to give her her head at the start and take up the running from her inside draw. Cott Beach has shown a blistering turn of foot from the mobile in the past. Her first three wins were recorded after Turvey sent her to the front after she sped out of the machine. She was always going to draw well in the preferential barrier draw that gives fillies the inside marbles over the colts and geldings and when she came up with gate two it guaranteed that Cott Beach would be sent out as the favourite with punters.
Her sire Advance Attack has been a revelation this season. He is the leading 2YO sire in WA with eight wins, four seconds and a third from 29 starts.
Hardest for Cott Beach to beat on Friday night could be the filly who is drawn directly inside of her, Infinite Symbol. This Julie O’Neill-trained filly recorded a hat-trick of wins when she downed The War Nurse and Miss Sangrial at headquarters last Friday night over the sprint trip of 1730m. It was a tough win from the Indomitable Saab filly, following her earlier victories at Pinjarra and Bunbury. She has speed out of the machine – evidenced by her all-the-way victory at Pinjarra when she was sent forward from a wide draw to take up the running – but her driver Wayne Reid may elect to take the trail behind the speedy Cott Beach.
Either way, the two fillies are set to dominate the event and the early speed battle could very well determine the outcome of the race.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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