by Wayne Currall
Friday night’s Book Your Next Conference at Gloucester Park Pace (2130m) is shaping up as one of the highlights on a terrific night of pacing. The M0-M2 race has some promising pacers engaged and finding the winner won’t be easy.
Oakford trainer Ross Olivieri has a strong hand in the event with Military Master and El Hombre, but there are many realistic winning chances. Military Master, with champion reinsman Chris Lewis in the bike, is shooting for four wins on the trot, while El Hombre, to be reined by the equally talented Gary Hall Jnr, will be aiming for three wins from his past six starts.
Military Master has drawn gate three and Lewis is expected to make a bold bid for the lead from his favourable barrier, but Michael Grantham on polemarker Im Master Charlie might have something to say about that. Im Master Charlie, three wins from his past four runs, is up in class but his inside draw offsets this and Grantham will be keen to make the most of the rails.
The Callan Suvaljko trained and reined Skippy Rascal is also fast out of the machine and will be looking to lead or take up a forward position from gate two. He ran a close third behind Franco Rayner two starts ago at headquarters before finishing second behind the much-improved Soho Wall Street last week at GP.
Adding to the intrigue is Justin Prentice’s exciting four-year-old gelding Natural Disaster, who made a winning return to the racetrack at Bunbury earlier this month following a four-month spell. He’s drawn awkwardly in gate five but certainly has the ability to test this field. Natural Disaster finished fourth, nine metres behind Soho Tribeca in a hot Golden Nugget field last December and has won seven of his 24 starts. He would have derived plenty of benefit from his first-up victory and should not be underestimated.
Throw in the likes of Chelsea Royale (Barrier 4) the winner of five of her past six starts before a spell, ultra-consistent mare Foxy Dame (7), prolific winner Aussie Delight (11) and El Hombre (12) and you have a cracker of a race.
Good luck trying to find the winner.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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