20 June 2019 | Tim Walker
A stellar line up of three-year-old colts and geldings are set to do battle in Friday night’s Group 1 Westbred Classic (2130m) at Gloucester Park.
The cream of the three-year-old colts and geldings crop, minus WA Derby placegetters Major Trojan, Franco Edward and Bletchley Park, will contest the $100,000 event.
Trainer Justin Prentice, who took out last week’s Group 1 Pearl Classic with Manning, has two runners engaged in the feature in Know When To Run and Back In Twenty.
Veteran trainer-reinsman Colin Brown also has his two stable stars Patrickthepiranha and Its Rock And Roll engaged, while Andrew De Campo also sends two of his stable up-and-comers Walsh and Tellmetoattack around in the event.
Theo Aviator, Gee Jay Kay and Shockwave are also among the stellar field, which could unearth WA’s next star pacer.
Pierre Whitby has come up with barrier one for the event, while Major Artist has barrier two.
Patrickthepiranha looks the major winner from the barrier draw, where he came up with barrier three.
The gelding looks set to get his chance to lead, while Theo Aviator in barrier four could also find himself in the action early.
Trainer-reinsman Aldo Cortopassi said he was pleased Theo Aviator would get his chance to be prominent in the opening exchanges of the event from barrier four.
“For him it’s better than barrier one,” he said.
“We’ll roll the dice early.
“Dylan (Egerton-Green) has drawn inside me with Patrickthepiranha and you’d think he’d probably want to hold the front.
“I’d be happy to hold the breeze and he can control the race from there because he’s a pretty strong horse.”
Theo Aviator finished third to Know When To Run a fortnight ago, before he bounced back to the winners list in the Westsired Pace last week.
Fortunately for Theo Aviator, he has drawn inside Know When To Run, who has drawn barrier eight.
Gary Hall Jnr retains the drive on Know When To Run and will be out to score his second consecutive win in the event, having won it with One Off Delight last year.
Hall Jnr said the gelding was good enough to overcome the barrier, but admitted he would have his work cut out.
“He’s racing really well, but the draw probably puts us in a position where we need to be conservative and try and earn some good money,” he said.
“He can still win, but he needs things to really go his way from out there.”
The Bryan Cousins-trained Galante was a surprise second behind Know When To Run and beat Theo Aviator and Brown’s two pacers a fortnight ago.
The gelding looms as an outside chance in this week’s event, where he will start from barrier 12 and be driven by Kim Prentice.
Cousins said Galante would need luck to win, but deserved his place in the field.
“It’s an interesting race because I think there’s a lot of chances,” he said.
“It might be a really genuinely run race.
“If that’s the case the backmarkers at Gloucester Park get a chance.
“Galante has raced well during the whole season and I think he’s better now than he’s ever been.”
Its Rock And Roll and Tellmetoattack are the other two runners on the back line.
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