Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Serpentine trainer Dylan Egerton-Green was bitterly disappointed last Friday night when Our Lady Jen, the $2.15 favourite in the $30,000 Coulson Pace, was hopelessly blocked for a clear passage throughout the final circuit and finished ninth behind Secret Reaction.
He is now hoping for better fortune when Our Lady Jen starts from the No. 5 barrier in the $21,000 ADC Winner Gary Hall Junior Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
But Egerton-Green will not be in the sulky this week because he will be attending the wedding of fellow trainer-driver Kaiden Hayter in Bunbury on Friday night, and he has engaged star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr to drive the five-year-old mare for the first time.
Eleven days before last week’s unlucky run, Our Lady Jen gave an excellent performance to run home strongly from eighth at the bell to finish third behind Freyja over 2185m at Bunbury.
One of Our Lady Jen’s main rivals this week is sure to be the Mike Howie-trained Secret Reaction, who maintained her splendid form at Pinjarra on Monday when she raced in the one-out, one-back position before finishing strongly to be second to Heavenly Wage over 1177m.
That effort by Secret Reaction came three days after Aiden De Campo had driven her to a smart all-the-way victory over Unlucky and Pocket The Change in the Coulson Pace. With De Campo also attending Hayter’s wedding on Friday night, Trent Wheeler has been engaged to drive Secret Reaction this week.
Hall also has bright prospects in the opening event, the $21,000 Welcome to 2025 Pace, in which he will drive Blaze On for Mardella trainer Michael Young.
Hall gave punters a lead by choosing to drive Blaze On in preference to the Nathan Turvey-trained Mister Macedon, who worked hard before finishing second to Showpony over 2130m three Fridays ago. Mister Macedon, who won at his two previous starts at Gloucester Park, will be handled by Deni Roberts.
Young also will be looking for a powerful performance from four-year-old Heez A Vibe, who is the likely favourite after winning easily in Albany at his first three appearances after a four-month absence.
Emily Suvaljko will be in the sulky behind Heez A Vibe after having driven the gelding for his past three wins, the latest of which was last Saturday when he charged home from seventh at the bell to win by four lengths from his stablemate Princess Katie, setting a track record rate of 1.55.3 over 1832m.
Heez A Vibe has the ability to overcome the disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) on Friday night, while his stablemate Blaze On will start from barrier two on the back line.
“Barrier eleven is a good draw for Blaze On,” said Hall, who drove the five-year-old to victory over Major Jay over 2130m four starts ago after having worked hard in the breeze.
Blaze On finished a distant last in the 2265m Christmas Cup in Albany last Friday week when he settled down in second last position before going forward after 500m to move to the breeze at the 1400m mark. He then took the lead with 450m to travel before breaking into a bad gallop 150m later.
He then contested a 2150m trial at Byford last Sunday when he was not extended in winning by 19m from Little Bitof Fun, rating 1.56.4, with quarters of 29.7sec., 29.5sec. 29.5sec. and 28.8sec. He took the lead in the six-horse field after 500m.