by Ken Casellas
Brilliant colt Mitch Maguire is in dazzling form and he looks a certainty in the $50,000 Intersport Slater Gartrell Western Gateway Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
A victory would enable leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond to end the winning sequence of ace trainer Gary Hall sen. who has dominated the group 2 classic in recent years.
Making the powerful Bond camp’s challenge for supremacy far easier was the random barrier draw, which saw Mitch Maguire gaining the prized No. 1 barrier in the 2536m event, with his classy stablemate Rock Diamonds drawing favourably at barrier two.
The draw did the Hall stable no favours, with El Barcelona drawing out wide at No. 8 on the front line and Herrick Roosevelt even worse off at No. 9.
Ryan Warwick, enjoying his best season in the sulky, returns refreshed from a holiday in Bali and he should make every post a winner by setting the pace with the New Zealand-bred Mitch Maguire.
Ryan Bell will handle Rock Diamonds, who was most impressive in a WA Derby prelude last Friday night when he started from barrier five and was ninth at the bell before finishing with a powerful burst to be third behind Mitch Maguire, who gave a commanding performance from barrier two in setting the pace and sprinting over the final quarters in 27.8sec. and 28.4sec. to defeat Herrick Roosevelt by just under three lengths at a 1.54.9 rate over the 2130m journey.
Greg Bond, a part-owner of Mitch Maguire and Rock Diamonds, prepared Ohokas Bondy for his win in the 2011 Western Gateway Pace, after his runner Mister Odds On, the 9/4 favourite, had finished second to Lively Royce in 2008.
Hall sen., who trained and drove The Falcon Strike for his Western Gateway win over Knightwatchman in 2001, has trained the past four winners of the classic, scoring with Alta Christiano (2013), Elegant Christian (2014), Beaudiene Boaz (2015) and Chicago Bull (2016). This winning streak followed immediately after the Hall-trained Gracias Para Nada had finished second to Im Victorious in the 2012 Western Gateway.
Mitch Maguire, a winner at two of his seven starts as a two-year-old in New Zealand, has flourished in Western Australia, with his ten starts in the State producing nine wins and a second placing. Rock Diamonds, a Rocknroll Hanover colt, has had 11 starts in WA for eight wins and two placings.
Colin Brown, who drove Mitch Maguire last Friday night in the absence of Warwick, was full of praise for the Sportswriter colt, saying: “He did it very easily and was really untapped. About a thousand metres out he started to crank up. He knew it was game on and he just got stronger and stronger.”
The inexperienced Herrick Roosevelt will be driven by Gary Hall jun. on Friday night when his elder brother Clint will handle El Barcelona.
Herrick Roosevelt reappeared last Friday night after an absence of three months and he performed in fine style, working in the breeze before fighting on grimly to be second to Mitch Maguire. His only previous runs were in December when he was untroubled to win at Bunbury and Gloucester Park.
El Barcelona has raced ten times for four wins and five placings. He has not raced since he ran on from the one-out, one-back position to finish second to Im Rockaria at Gloucester Park on January 13. He warmed up for Friday night’s assignment with a strong performance in a 2185m trial at Byford on Sunday morning when he set the pace and won by seven lengths from Beach Goddess, rating 1.58.9.
The improving Lord Willoughby will start from barrier two on the back line and trainer Ross Olivieri will be hoping for a victory to provide him with a splendid birthday present the following day.
The West Australian-bred Lord Willoughby (by Mach Three) is starting to realise his potential with two wins and a third placing from his past three starts. He had a tough run without cover when a fighting last-start third behind Handsandwheels at Gloucester Park on Tuesday of last week. He finished strongly to win at his two previous outings.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
