07 May 2020 | Ken Casellas
Champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr has driven two-year-olds Adda Something and Machnificent to victory last month, but he has given punters a valuable lead by choosing to drive Mighty Ronaldo in the Vision Produce Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Mighty Ronaldo has been freshened up by Boyanup trainer Justin Prentice since he drove the Alta Christiano colt to an easy all-the-way victory over 1730m at Gloucester Park on March 20. That victory over Soho Gigolo was Mighty Ronaldo’s first win at his third race start.
The Prentice-trained Adda Something will be handled for the first time by Dylan Egerton-Green and should be prominent from barrier two in the field of seven. Machnificent, prepared at Byford by Katja Warwick, has been driven by Hall in all his seven starts and three Byford trials. He led when he won from Star of Willoughby and Robbie Rocket over 1730m three starts ago. Colin Brown has been engaged to drive him from barrier six on Friday night.
Mighty Ronaldo is a smart frontrunner and he has excellent prospects of leading and ending the highly-promising Lavra Joe’s winning sequence of three. Lavra Joe, trained at Greenbushes by Ray Jones and to be handled by Chris Lewis, has drawn the outside at barrier seven, but cannot be overlooked.
He revealed great determination at Bunbury last Saturday night when he took the lead after 100m, set the pace and sprinted over the final quarters in 27.7sec. and 26.9sec. to beat Robbie Rocket by a half-head over 1609m in 1.56.5. Robbie Rocket trailed the pacemaker and he fought on powerfully along the sprint lane to just fail to beat Lavra Joe.
Robbie Rocket, trained by Vicki Lea and to be driven by Shannon Suvaljko, is sure to stiff opposition to Mighty Ronaldo and Lavra Joe. A winner at two of his six starts, Robbie Rocket has the ability to overcome the slight disadvantage of the No. 4 barrier.
Henley Brook trainer-reinsman Robbie Williams will be looking for another stout-hearted effort from Overjoyed, who will start from the No. 3 barrier. After a convincing all-the-way victory over Sugar Street at Pinjarra on debut on April 13, Overjoyed trailed the pacemaking Lavra Joe when second to Lavra Joe in the Champagne Classic last Friday week.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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