No. 1 draw points to Borntobeanartist
25 September, 2015
Harness
Seven-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding Borntobeanartist is a noted frontrunner and star reinsman Mark Reed will be planning for an all-the-way victory in the $25,000 final of the TABtouch Warwick Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Borntobeanartist’s prospects soared when he drew the prized No. 1 barrier and Reed and Henley Brook trainer Chelsey Harding are hoping that history will repeat itself. Clint Hall made the most of the No. 1 barrier when he drove Elegant Christian, favourite at 6/4 on, to an all-the-way win over stablemate Machtu in the Warwick final 12 months ago.
Borntobeanartist has been unplaced from wide draws at his past three starts, but he will be a vastly different proposition from the inside barrier this week.
The Bob Mellsop-trained Bettor Rules also possesses excellent gate speed and Lauren Jones is likely to press forward from barrier five in a bid to get to the front. However, Bettor Rules is unlikely to wrest the lead from Borntobeanartist.
Bettor Rules started from barrier seven, was restrained to the rear and did not show up when last behind Phoenix Warrior in a fast-run 2100m event at Bunbury on Monday of last week. He mustered good early pace from the No. 5 barrier and took the lead after 225m before winning comfortably from Mohegan Sun over 2130m at his previous outing.
One of the best runs in the three heats of the Warwick Pace was that of outsider Jaxon Fella, who raced three wide early and then in the breeze before finishing a fighting second to Ideal Alice last Friday night. The Matt Scott-trained gelding will again be handled by Kiara Davies and he should obtain a perfect trail behind the likely pacemaker Borntobeanartist.
The powerful Greg and Skye Bond stable holds a strong hand in the final with Raesawinner and Ima Tragedy. Colin Brown will drive Raesawinner from barrier three on the front line and the five-year-old, a winner at ten of his 44 starts, is sure to be prominent throughout. Ima Tragedy has a losing sequence of 17, but two seconds and a third from his past three starts are a strong indication that another win is not far away.
Ideal Alice, the only mare in the race, was a brilliant all-the-way winner at a 1.57 rate over 2130m last Friday night. That was her third win in a row and her ninth success from 21 starts. Trained by Gary Hall sen., Ideal Alice faces a tougher task this week from the outside (No. 9) on the front line. The stewards placed her on the outside after she galloped in the score-up and caused a false start in a qualifying heat last week. However, she possesses wonderful natural speed and cannot be left out of calculations.
Awesum Tedddy, a heat winner when he led throughout from the No. 1 barrier last Friday week, will be driven by Justin Prentice. He replaces Chris Voak, who was due to have left Perth on Tuesday night for a holiday in America. Awesum Teddy, trained by Michael Brennan, will find things tougher from out wide at barrier eight this week.
Ken Casellas