14 January 2021 | Ken Casellas
Chris Voak celebrated his wonderful performance to be the State’s leading driver last season with a treble at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon, and is looking forward to a busy night at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he will have a drive in nine of the ten events.
He has chosen the Terry Ferguson-trained mare Bettor Copagoodone as his best winning prospect. The five-year-old, a winner at seven of her past 16 starts, has been racing in fine form on South-West and Great Southern tracks.
She has had made only six appearances at Gloucester Park and has yet to be placed there. She has won five mobile events at Albany, two stands at Pinjarra and one stand at Bunbury in her 43-start career.
Bettor Copagoodone will start from the inside barrier on the front line and Voak is hoping the mare will maintain her sound form from a standing start. She gave an excellent frontrunning performance to win by four lengths from Be On Guard and Kilowatt Kid in a 2631m stand at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon.
“She went really good at Pinjarra, and she went even better when she ran on to win a 2265m mobile at Albany at her previous start,” said Voak. “She can win again. At Pinjarra she felt strong and that’s why I let her slide (in front) and just kept her company.
“She won very easily and her last 1200m was excellent. If she can lead again, there’s no reason why on the half-mile track she can’t repeat the dose if she steps away like she did on Monday.”
Bettor Copagoodone’s chief rival appears the Peter Tilbrook-trained Vivere Damore, who will start off 20m and will be handled by Emily Suvaljko. Vivere Damore ran on powerfully from eighth (and last) at the bell to finish second to Waltzingwithsierra in a 2130m mobile last Friday night. She looks set to fight out the finish.
Voak has given punters a good lead by opting to drive Carrera Mach in preference to Rock Me Over in the 2130m Retravision Pace. Voak drove the Matt Scott-trained Rock Me Over last Friday night when the six-year-old, favourite at $1.50, set the pace and finished second to the fast-finishing Blue Blazer over 2536m. Gary Hall jnr has been engaged to drive Rock Me Over, who has solid winning claims from barrier four.
Carrera Mach, prepared by Ross Olivieri, will start from the No. 2 barrier on the back line. Carrera Mach started from the No. 9 barrier in a 2130m event last Friday night and impressed in sustaining a powerful three-wide burst from last at the bell to finish a half-head second to Walsh.
“He will go well this week,” said Voak. “Hopefully, he won’t get too far back; we don’t want to be any worse than one-out, two-back. His past two runs have been very good.”
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