Oakford trainer Ross Olivieri delved into his glossary of mixed metaphors when he used an aeronautical term to describe Sheer Rocknroll’s path towards the $150,000 WA Oaks on May 6 when he waxed lyrical about the filly’s prospects in the Alltools Pace for three-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“She’s on the final approach and it’s full steam ahead for the Oaks,” he said with great enthusiasm. The WA-bred Sheer Rocknroll has won at eight of her 15 starts and has not been extended by young reinsman Stuart McDonald in scoring effortless victories at her first two runs as a three-year-old.
Sheer Rocknroll will start from the outside barrier in a field of seven in the 2130m event on Friday night in which she will clash with Baldivis trainer Nathan Turvey’s New Zealand-bred pair of Our Gamma Lady and Gone Leica Flash, Justin Prentice’s Im Zuleika and David Young’s Catastrophic Event.
“She returned to racing in the same fine style as she did when she ended her two-year-old campaign,” Olivieri said. “The outside barrier won’t be a concern. When she won convincingly at Bunbury last Saturday week she scored without the ear plugs being pulled.”
Considerable interest will surround the WA debut of Our Gamma Lady, who will start from the No. 4 barrier. Turvey will drive her in preference to the promising Gone Leica Flash, who will be handled by Gary Hall jun. from barrier three.
Our Gamma Lady has won once and been placed three times from her seven starts in New Zealand. She is closely related to Maheer Lord, winner of the 2006 WA Pacing Cup and $515,470 in stakes from his 34 wins and 46 placings from 197 starts.
Turvey said that he bought Our Gamma Lady cheaply for himself and a handful of stable clients after studying her breeding and form in New Zealand.
“She’s been here for about three months and has been ticking along,” he said. “She should go all right. I don’t normally race my new horses first-up in town. Normally they go to the country first, but there’s not much for her in the country at the moment.”
Our Gamma Lady came under notice after her race debut when she finished second (beaten by five lengths) in a 1700m event for two-year-olds at Alexandra Park in January 2015. The race was won by Dream About Me, who improved her record to 12 starts for 12 wins (and stakes of $598,489) when she won the recent New South Wales Oaks at Menangle by three lengths from WA filly Dodolicious.
Turvey’s other runner on Friday night, Gone Leica Flash is a novice of only three starts — all in WA — for easy wins at Narrogin and Gloucester Park and a fighting four-length second to Sheer Rocknroll at Bunbury.
Im Zuleika has won twice from seven starts for Boyanup trainer-reinsman Justin Prentice, but she is awkwardly drawn at barrier five and faces a stern test.
“Her latest run was disappointing (when a 100m last behind Gone Leica Flash at Gloucester Park) when she overraced badly in the breeze,” Prentice said. “But since then she has trialled really well.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
