Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Few pacers in Western Australian stand as tall as Travelban, who gave a sample of his ability when he finished strongly to win the Go One Better With Westral Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The towering four-year-old who stands 16.3 hands was a $4.60 chance from the inside of the back line and he trailed the $3.20 favourite Ifeel Sikdarl before Stuart McDonald brought him home with a powerful burst to beat the pacemaker by one and a half lengths, rating a smart 1.56.1 after final 400m sections of 27.9sec. ands 28.8sec.
“Travelban is a nice horse who is capable of racing through to a nice level on a Friday night,” said his trainer Katja Warwick. “He didn’t race much as a baby because he was too big. We didn’t look at any of the classics for four-year-olds because he is not ready for that, or ready for punishment.
“He needs to be looked after and learn how to race, and I’m sure he will develop into a good horse. He is nice and correct and doesn’t have any problems. He is versatile and has good gate speed, but he hasn’t drawn good enough in his current campaign to launch out of the gate. Tonight, the race worked out like I wrote the plan.”
McDonald was more than happy to drive Travelban for the first time, after Trent Wheeler was committed to driving Rockandrollartist for trainer Aiden De Campo.
McDonald’s task was made easy when the breeze horse Strauny began to drop back with 500m to travel, thus leaving McDonald with not the slightest problem of getting into the clear with Travelban, who hit the front 110m from home.
Travelban, bred and owned by Bob Fowler, is by Fly Like An Eagle and is the sixth foal out of the unraced Blissfull Hall mare World Peace, thus his stable name of Gandhi.
Travelban has earned $60,679 from nine wins and nine placings from 33 starts, and he is following in the footsteps of his half-brothers Make It Happen (84 starts for 12 wins, 22 placings and $92,891) and Per Ardua Ad Astra (105 starts for 16 wins, 27 placings and $119,624).