Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr has given punters a valuable lead by opting to drive Tricky Miki ahead of Wildwest in the $31,000 Westral Roller Shutters Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Tricky Miki, trained by Justin Prentice and a winner at 13 of his 35 starts, will begin from the No. 7 barrier in the field of eight, while evergreen eight-year-old Wildwest, trained by Gary Hall Snr, is favourably drawn at the No. 2 barrier and will be driven by Trent Wheeler, who needs one winner to chalk up his 600TH in a splendid career.
Tricky Miki is sure to appreciate a considerable drop in class after unplaced efforts behind Mister Smartee in the Stratton Cup and behind Minstrel in the WA Pacing Cup at his two latest starts.
Before those defeats Tricky Miki appreciated the No. 1 barrier when Hall drove him to an easy all-the-way victory over Lavra Joe and Alcopony in a 2536m Free-For-All in mid-October.
Wildwest, the winner of the WA Pacing Cup over 2936m in February 2022, has bright prospects of winning the start and setting the pace, and proving hard to catch.
His stablemate Jumpingjackmac will begin from barrier six, with regular reinsman Stuart McDonald in the sulky and keeping his tactical options open.
Leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond hold a powerful hand in the final event, the 2130m Westral Honeycomb Pace for three-year-olds in which they will be represented with three of the eight runners, Thelittle Master, Tualou and Thenu Came Along.
Star driver Deni Roberts has chosen to handle Tualou, who will start out wide at barrier No. 7 in the field of eight runners. Tualou won for the sixth time from 13 starts when he led from barrier four and easily beat stablemates Golden Lode and Christopher Dance over 2536m three Fridays ago.
Thelittle Master (Stuart McDonald) will start from barrier six, with Maddison Brown in the sulky behind Thenu Came Along, who will be tested from the outside barrier.
“Tualou has come through from the Derby (sixth behind Christopher Dance) very well, and then his next run was very good when he led and won very easily,” said Roberts.
“Thenu Came Along always goes well, and Thelittle Master is sure to have benefitted from his first-up run (when third behind Franklin Delano at Pinjarra). His Pinjarra run didn’t suit him that much, and we have made a couple of gear changes, and we should see a better version of him this week.”
Gary Hall Jnr will drive Franklin Delano from barrier two. The New Zealand-bred gelding has won at four of his eight starts, with his most recent four starts all being at Pinjarra and resulting in a second to Goodtime Louis and three wins.
“It’s a pretty good field, but Franklin Delano is going alright,” said Hall Jnr. “He gets out really good and likes to lead.”
Apart from Aardiebytheseaside and Tualou, Roberts has excellent winning prospects with Gee Heza Sport, who will begin from barrier three in the $25,000 Westral Verishade Curtains Pace over 2130m.
Gee Heza Sport has won convincingly at his past three runs, two in standing-start events and one in a 2536m mobile event.
“He is pretty exciting and is a cool customer who won’t be affected by switching from a stand to a mobile,” said Roberts. “He has good gate speed as he showed when he held out Hampton Banner comfortably two starts ago.”