by Ken Casellas
Outstanding young reinsman Michael Grantham landed his 200th winner when he guided 11/8 favourite Clear Image to victory in an event for three year olds at Northam on Thursday night and he completed a double when 11/4 favourite Ideal Flipflop stormed home from last to snatch victory over Baptism of Fire in a 2190m event.
The 22-year-old Grantham now cannot claim a concession as a junior driver and this meant he has had to forfeit drives behind Red Salute, Billies A Star and Mexicano at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
His record stands at 1587 drives for 201 wins, 207 seconds and 180 thirds.
He still has some excellent drives on Friday night with Khun Ratha, Mary Catherine, The Storm Chief, The Bucket List, Jason Rulz and Captured Delight.
It is a dangerous policy to select a pacer who has been unplaced at his past ten starts and who has a losing sequence of 14 and has the disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) but the Ross Olivieri trained Red Salute looks close to a certainty from the outside of the front line in the $20,000 Garrards Horse & Hound One Stop Shop Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He is an eight-year-old who has a vastly superior record to the records of his 11 rivals. He has earned $259,809 from 18 wins and 42 placings from 120 starts. He started from barrier nine in a 2130m event last Friday night and caught the eye when he was 12th at the bell before finishing strongly to be sixth, only two lengths behind the winner Thereugo (who dashed over the final quarters in 27.6sec. and 28.6sec.).
An interesting runner in Friday night’s race is the New Zealand-bred former New South Wales performer Whozideawasthis, a six year old trained by Gary Hall Snr. Whozideawasthis will be driven by Gary Hall Jnr and should gain a good passage after starting from barrier two on the back line.
The American Ideal gelding has not been produced in trials in this State. His most recent appearance was in a 1720m event at Penrith on February 23 this year when he raced three back on the pegs and finished fourth behind Jodan. He has been unplaced at his past ten starts since he started at 5/1 and finished strongly from eighth at the bell to win at a 1:58.4 rate over 1720m at Penrith on June 16 last year. The final quarters were run in 28.7sec. and 28.8sec.
He has a record of 46 starts for 13 wins and three placings for stakes of $65,372. He won nine times in New Zealand and has won four races at Penrith. His great granddam Jacuzzi produced Mattnamaras Band, who had 113 starts for 13 wins, 27 placings and stakes of $243,072.
Hall Snr trained Mattnamaras Band and produced him in splendid shape for his WA debut when he started off 30m in a C0 event over 2503m at Gloucester Park on May 2, 2009 and won from Black Saint and Fire Rebel.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
