Gloucester Park Review Friday 24 May 2024

Waverider set for stardom

Brilliant colt Waverider enhanced his reputation and showed that he should develop into a star when he scored an effortless victory in the $50,000 group 3 Team Bond Pearl Classic for three-year-olds at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

He will now have a brief let-up before being set for the $100,000 Westbred Classic on September 6 and the $200,000 WA Derby on November 1.

Friday night’s classic was a triumph for trainer Ryan Bell, who landed the quinella with Waverider, the $1.50 favourite, and the $2.70 second fancy Franco Encore. This gave Bell his second success in the Pearl, following his victory with Swingband in 2022.

Reinsman Kyle Symington was full of praise for Waverider, saying: “I was super confident in the run; he travelled beautifully.”

Franco Encore, driven by Mitch Miller, set the pace from the No. 1 barrier, with Waverider racing in the breeze after starting from barrier two.

“It was the plan to race in the breeze,” said 22-year-old Symington. “I would have loved to have led, but I didn’t ask Waverider (to attempt to take an early lead) because I don’t think I would’ve got a full length in front of Franco Encore. So, I would’ve been wasting my time.”

After a slow lead time of 38.1sec. Franco Encore was able to run the opening quarters comfortably in 30.4sec. and 30.3sec. After a 28.2sec. third quarter Waverider eventually got to the front 120m from home and went on to win by 2m from Franco Encore, with the final 400m being covered in 27.8sec. and the winner rating 1.57 over the 2130m.

Quinton ($71) ran home strongly from seventh on the pegs at the bell to finish third.

Bell said that everything worked out perfectly. “We were able to control the race with both horses,” he said. “Class took Waverider a long way. He had finished second at his three previous starts when he was a bit above himself. We screwed him down and worked him hard leading into this race.

“Now we’re going to give Waverider and Franco Encore three weeks off before getting Wavewrider ready for the Westbred Classic, and I’m hoping that Franco Encore will develop into a WA Derby runner.”

Waverider, a colt by American sire Downbytheseaside, is the fourth foal out of Premium Copper, who was retired after being placed once from five starts. Waverider was purchased for $60,000 at the 2022 Perth APG yearling sale, and he now has earned $140,161 from six wins and three seconds from eleven starts.

Finvarra relishes frontrunning role

Smart WA-bred six-year-old Finvarra relished his frontrunning role when he proved the master of his three New Zealand-bred stablemates in the $31,000 Flying Jett To India Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

The race was a triumph for champion trainer Gary Hall snr who prepared Finvarra ($3.20) for his victory over the $2.10 favourite Jumpingjackmac, Diego ($8.50) and Wildwest ($26). The first four tote dividend was a handsome $284.50.

Gary Hall jnr, who drove Finvarra, was delighted with the runs of the four stablemates, saying: “Finvarra settled very well and performed very well; Jumpingjackmac went enormous, while Diego and Wildwest were impressive.

“Racing in the breeze is not Jumpingjackmac’s style, yet he chased Finvarra all the way down the straight. All four horses look super and will keep racing.”

Finvarra resisted an early challenge for the lead from last-start winner Hampton Banner ($12), and he gave his rivals little chance by running the final three quarters in 28.6sec., 27.1sec. and 28.6sec.

Jumpingjackmac began from the outside barrier in the field of nine and settled down in eighth position before dashing forward to move to the breeze after 550m. He fought on with commendable tenacity.

Diego ran on solidly after enjoying an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, to finish third, while Wildwest caught the eye, running home powerfully, five wide, to be fourth after being last at the bell.

For Finvarra this was his first win for ten months and took his record to 39 starts for 14 wins, 14 placings and $268,997 in prizemoney. He is by American Ideal and is the first foal out of former star mare Nuala, who was retired after 19 starts for 14 wins, two placings and $132,449.

Nuala won at her only start in New Zealand, in May 2014, before being trained by Hall snr in WA when she twice excelled with winning streaks of six.

Rolling Fire is Golden Nugget bound

South Australian-bred pacer Rolling Fire gave further proof that he will be a leading contender for the $200,000 Golden Nugget on December 13 when he cruised to an impressive victory in the $25,000 Remembering Josh Dunn Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

“There’s not a lot for him until the end of the year,” said trainer Justin Prentice. “We will just tick him over with the main aim being the Nugget as well as the other feature events for four-year-olds. Whenever he’s been in important races, he has always gone super. He will follow good speed all day.”

Rolling Fire was the $3.30 second favourite in Friday night’s event in which he began from the No. 6 barrier. With Arma Xfactor the $2.15 favourite being trapped three wide early from barrier five after being beaten for early pace by Dominus Factum and Eldaytona, and then being restrained to the rear, Emily Suvaljko was able to settle Rolling Fire in the one-out, one-back position.

Acharne Girl ($4.80) took the lead after 350m, and she was in front by a couple of lengths in the back straight the final time. Rolling Fire began a three-wide move 600m from home and the third quarter of the final mile was covered in 27.5sec.

Suvaljko did not ask Rolling Fire for a special effort as she was not willing to provide Lusaka and Rockmyster with an ideal passage.

“I lobbed a lot closer than I thought I would,” said Suvaljko. “Rolling Fire was quite sharp, and he travelled a lot better than usual. It was probably the best he has travelled with a sit. I was not worried when Acharne Girl opened up a good break because Rolling Fire was just cruising down the back.

“I was confident Rolling Fire had the measure of Acharne Girl, but I was mindful that the ones to beat (Lusaka and Rockmyster) were behind me, and I didn’t want them to track me into the race.”

Rolling Fire took the lead with 100 metres to travel and won by a half-length from Acharne Girl, with Lusaka and Rockmyster running home powerfully to finish third and fourth, respectively.

Rolling Fire is by American stallion Roll With Joe and is the fourth foal out of Badlands Hanover mare Incendio, who raced 71 times in Western Australia for six wins, 21 placings and $56,635. Rolling Fire has earned $141,946 from eleven wins and five placings from 24 starts.

Hat-trick for Maungatahi

WA-bred five-year-old Maungatahi is continuing to improve, and he completed a hat-trick of wins when he set the pace and won convincingly from Soundwave and Lucapelo in the 1730m The Minstrel Million Dollar Machine Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Maungatahi was the $3.80 second favourite, after coming in from barrier four to No. 3 with the late scratching of former Victorian pacer Gilligans Island, who had burst to the front at the start and set the pace at his five previous starts.

Polemarker Lucapelo was the $2.15 favourite and was beaten for speed by Maungatahi, who charged straight to the front and went on to set the pace and win by just under a length from $10 chance Sound Wave, with Lucapelo finishing third after trailing the pacemaker and being hopelessly blocked for a clear run throughout the final lap.

Trainer-reinsman Dylan Egerton-Green admitted that he was not confident of leading but said the scratching of Gilligan Island had helped.

“I expected Lucapelo to get out quicker than he did,” he said. “But I was happy to set the pace.”

Maungatahi dashed over the final 800m in 56.6sec. and rated 1.55.9. He is by American sire Betterthancheddar and is the second foal out of American Ideal mare Poppy Maguire, who won at two of her six New Zealand starts and then was unplaced at her first two runs in WA before being retired.

Maungatahi has earned $88,097 from nine wins and 14 placings from 34 starts.

State Of Heaven does it tough

New Zealand-bred pacer State Of Heaven revealed excellent fighting qualities when he endured a tough run in the breeze and went on to win the 21340m Gstar Continues To Shine Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

State Of Heaven, a $5.70 chance driven by Shannon Suvaljko for Wanneroo trainer Debbie Padberg, raced without cover while the $2.45 favourite Loucid Dreams was setting the pace after a fast lead time of 36.5sec. and slow opening quarters of 32.6sec. and 30.7sec.

Loucid Dreams then sprinted the third 400m section of the final mile in 27.8sec. before wilting to finish fourth. Suvaljko sent State Of Heaven to the front with 250m to travel and the six-year-old went on to win by a half-neck from $6 chance The Code Breaker, who raced in the one-out, two-back position before finishing determinedly.

State Of Heaven has been a handy performer who now has earned $108,994 from ten wins and 24 placings from 54 starts. He is by Rock N Roll Heaven and is out of Stateofthenation, who won once and earned just $4897 from eleven starts.

Double for Bell and Symington

Speedy mare Queeninthecorner completed a double for trainer Ryan Bell and reinsman Kyle Symington when she won the 2130m Weewah Keeps Jumping Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Her victory as the $3.70 second fancy over the $1.85 favourite Nullarbor Navajo came 30 minutes after Bell and Symington had combined to win the group 3 Pearl Classic with Waverider.

Queeninthecorner began from the No. 3 barrier, and she raced three wide early with the polemarker Brulee ($41) setting a fast pace. Queeninthecorner moved to the breeze before dashing past Brulee to take the lead 1200m from home.

Nullarbor Navajo, who started from the outside of the back line, settled down in ninth place before Stuart McDonald sent her forward, three wide, 650m from home. Nullarbor Navajo then was kept three wide by the breeze horse Three Rumours ($4.40) for a few hundred metres before she ran on determinedly to finish a half-length second to Queeninthecorner, who rated 1.55.4.

Queeninthecorner is by Sportswriter and is the second foal out of American Ideal mare Ace Of Cards, who was retired after her 67 starts produced five wins, 24 placings and stakes of $54,499. Queeninthecorner now has earned $93,646 from nine wins and ten placings from 43 starts.

Queeninthecorner is a half-sister to Feeling Aces, who has had 98 starts for 15 wins, 21 placings and $125,088.

Name In Lights ends losing run of 57

Veteran pacer Name In Lights ended a losing sequence of 57 when he set the pace and held on grimly to win the 2130m Dynamic Deni Delivers Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

A flying start from the No. 6 barrier saw Name In Lights burst straight to the front before the polemarker and $2 favourite Rocknroll Spirit made an unsuccessful challenge for the lead.

Name In Lights bowled along in front and held on desperately for reinsman Shannon Suvaljko to win by a half-head from the fast-finishing Johnny Lombo ($14), with The Righteous ($9) an unlucky third after being blocked for a clear run in the home straight.

For Name In Lights this was his first success since he defeated Seeknyoushallfind at Gloucester Park on November 15, 2022. He now has raced 99 times for six wins, 22 placings and $76,888. His half-brother Tux And Tails, who finished fifth behind Cloud Nine in race nine on Friday night, has raced 112 times for 17 wins, 37 placings and $118,082.

His win on Friday night completed a double for trainer Debbie Padberg and Suvaljko, who had combined earlier in the night to win with State Of Heaven.

Suvaljko maintained his splendid form in the sulky with another double at Northam on Saturday night. Wins with American Monarch and Blackrock took his tally for the season to 93 winners, and he leads the WA drivers’ premiership table from Chris Voak (71), Gary Hall jnr (66), Stuart McDonald (64) and Deni Roberts (59).

Jett Star advances to Free-For-All company

New Zealand-bred pacer Jett Star graduated to Free-For-All company at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he worked hard in the breeze before winning the 2130m 4TH May 2008 Pace.

He was the $2 favourite from barrier five when he raced three wide early and then without cover before getting to the front 220m from home and then holding on to beat the fast-finishing $12 chance Lil Happy Fella by a neck, rating 1.55.8.

Withoutthetuh ($5) led for the first 500m before Ira Poole ($6) assumed control in front. Jett Star, driven by Deni Roberts, again revealed his strong competitive nature.

He now has raced 47 times for Team Bond for 20 wins, nine seconds and one third for earnings of $249,065. Prepared by leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond, Jett Star was an outstanding two-year-old in 2020 when he won five races, including his victory over Lavra Joe in the Pearl Classic.

Unfortunately, a serious setback interrupted his burgeoning career, and he was off the scene for eleven months, with Greg Bond explaining: “We lost him as a three-year-old when he had to have a throat operation.

“As a two-year-old he looked like he was going to be a serious horse before his throat problems, and that’s why he missed the WA Derby and other feature events for three-year-olds.

“It took a while for him to come back after the operation, and to his credit he has advanced to Free-For-Alls. It has been a great effort.”

Jett Star is by Bettors Delight and is the second foal out of Steel The Light, who raced 32 times for seven wins, nine placings and $40,639 in stakes.

The Bonds also own and train Jett Star’s elder full-brother Steel The Show, who has had 66 starts for 14 wins, 20 placings and $365,207.

Those two pacers have a full-sister Lady Of The Light, who has excelled in New Zealand where her first 32 starts have produced 11 wins, eight placings and stakes of $246,627. She won at her first five starts (as a two-year-old in late 2021) and as a three-year-old she finished a close second to True Fantasy in the group 1 Great Northern Oaks at Alexandra Park.

Then as a four-year-old last year Lady Of The Light finished a head second to Callie’s Delight in the group 1 Breeders Stakes at Addington and won the group 1 Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park.

Nafranec’s greatest triumph

Coolup trainer Frank Nafranec has been involved in harness racing for much of his life but in recent years he has made only occasional visits to the city to race his pacers.

And therefore, it was a moment to savour at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he prepared his first city winner for almost eleven years when Trent Wheeler drove Reinette to victory in the $50,000 Team Bond Champagne Classic for two-year-olds, a group 3 feature over 2130m.

This gave the 69-year-old Nafranec his biggest success in the sport. It was his first city winner as a trainer since To Transcend won a 2503m stand at Gloucester Park on October 1, 2013.

To Transcend won 16 races in a 148-start career. Nafranec was the gelding’s trainer for 64 of those starts for ten wins, 23 placings and stakes of $91,210. Another of his pacers Auto Pilot was in his care for 15 races for six wins and six placings for stakes of $37,054.

Reinette, a winner at Pinjarra and Bunbury from her first five starts before she lined up against six colts and geldings in Friday night’s feature event, was an $8.80 chance from the No. 5 barrier.

Wheeler got Reinette away to a flying start and she burst straight to the front before surrendering the lead to the $1.60 favourite Captain Stirling after 220m.

American Major ($3.50) was left in the breeze, and he and Captain Stirling were locked together for much of the final 1200m, and the two colts were unable to hold out the fast-finishing Reinette, who took the lead on the home turn and went on to win by a length from Captain Stirling, rating 1.58.2.

Reinette’s first two runs after a spell resulted in a second and a fourth placing behind Highview Heidi in races for fillies at Gloucester Park.

“Our plan was to win last week (when leading and finishing fourth in the Gold Bracelet) and then give her a break,” said Nafranec. “But she pulled up so well that I decided to run her this week.”

Nafranec races Reinette (French for Little Queen and also the name of a variety of European apples) in partnership with his wife Alison, their sons Adam and Rick, Travis O’Neill, Matt Feighan, Graham Ventris, David Hickmott and Sean Farrell.

“We went to the 2023 yearling sale intending to buy a colt and finished up buying two fillies — Reinette (for $15,000) and Titus (for $16,000),” said Nafranec, who paid tribute to the skill of Dean Miller in breaking in both fillies.

Titus has had three starts for one placing and stakes of $2077 and Reinette has earned $44,557 from her three wins and one placing from six starts. Reinette is by former star pacer Vincent and is the second foal out of Aqueensomewhere, who raced 31 times for six wins, 12 placings and $44,768.

Aqueensomewhere’s dam Queen Delilah won ten races, including three as a two-year-old in 1999, and has produced six winners, including Jumbo Operator, who earned $313,175 from 24 wins and nine placings from 43 starts.

McDonald’s great strike rate

Talented reinsman Stuart McDonald is enjoying a remarkable run of success as a trainer, and when he drove Cloud Nine to victory in the 2536m Do Do More Wine Please Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night it took his record as a trainer this season to eight starters for six wins.

Cloud Nine’s victory followed McDonald’s recent wins as a trainer with Madame Publisher (three wins) and The State Of Art (two wins). And this win gave McDonald his 62ND driving success for the season, a tally which was boosted by a double with Stellar Edition and Lord Publisher at Northam on Saturday night.

Cloud Nine ($4.80) began from barrier No. 5 on Friday night and he settled down in seventh position before getting to the breeze in the first lap when Velocipede, the $2.30 favourite, was racing keenly out in front.

“It certainly wasn’t the plan to be in the breeze,” said McDonald. “So, I thought it had all gone pear shaped early. I didn’t think there would be anything to come up and give me cover.”

But when Rock Me Over ($31) dashed forward from the rear to go to the breeze after a lap Cloud Nine gained an ideal sit in the one-out, one-back position.

“I then thought we were a place chance, but the leader went a fair way unders and once he wasn’t travelling well at the top of the straight, I thought I had a good chance of winning,” said McDonald.

Cloud Nine, who was switched three wide with 250m to travel, finished strongly to hit the front 70m from the post on his way to winning by almost a length from Rock Me Over.

It is an interesting story how the Eastern States owners of the New Zealand-bred Cloud Nine sent the gelding to McDonald to race in Western Australia.

“I drove a horse (Stormont Czar) for these owners in a New South Wales Rising Stars event at Menangle in June 2016, and I won the race on protest after finishing second,” said McDonald.

Stormont Czar put up a remarkable performance after he met with severe interference 450m after the start and galloped badly. He was last in the field of ten 400m from home before he charged home, out seven wide, to finish second, a half-head behind Jilliby Jagger.

McDonald fired in a protest against the winner, and it was upheld. “Since then, I have kept in contact with the owners, Joe Carbone, who died last year, Jason Restagno and Rob Stevenson,” he said.

“They sent me Total Eclipse when I was in Melbourne a couple of years ago, and I gave her six starts as a trainer in early 2022 for two wins, at Melton and Bendigo, and two seconds. Then I gave Total Eclipse ten starts in WA for one win before she was injured in a paddock accident and had to be retired.”

Cloud Nine won twice in New Zealand, four times at Menangle and once at Melton before arriving in WA where his 25 starts for McDonald have produced three wins, six placings and $30,672 to improve his career record to 72 starts for ten wins, 16 seconds, three thirds and $124,191.