Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Busselton owner-trainer Barry Howlett has high hopes of winning the $50,000 Trotters Cup for the third time when Gary Hall Jnr drives Sunnys Little Rose in the Group 2 standing-start feature event over 2503m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Sunnys Little Rose warmed up for the big race in fine style when she finished second to Chumani in a 2503m stand last Friday night, and she is ideally drawn at barrier two on the front line this week.
She raced in third place in an Indian file affair last week before finishing with a solid burst. Bred in Victoria, she is a lightly raced six-year-old who has had 22 starts for three wins and eleven placings. She is a capable standing-start performer who has raced eleven times in stands for her three wins, four seconds, two thirds and two unplaced efforts.
Last Friday week Sunnys Little Rose trailed the pacemaker Aldebaran Sundown and finished a sound third behind Luvaflair and Patched in the 1730m TABtouch Trotters Sprint.
Howlett has won the Trotters Cup with Sunnys Little Whiz in December 2016 and Our Maestoso in February 2024. He also owned and trained Sunnys Little Jestic when she finished a head second to Princess Mila in the Cup in December 2020.
Sunnys Little Rose is the first foal out of the unraced mare Our Sunny Rose, whose dam Our Sunny Whiz was an outstanding trotter who earned $348,781 from 19 wins, six seconds and two thirds from 45 starts. Eighteen of her wins were in stands. Her first foal was Sunnys Little Whiz, whose 48 starts produced 18 wins,15 placings and $150,140.
Chumani, Patched and Nickys Son are expected to be Sunnys Little Rose’s main rivals. Chumani, to be driven by Chris Voak for trainer Terry Ferguson, will start from the 10m line on Friday night. He began off the front last Friday night when he led for the first 30m before Uptown Lad dashed to the front.
Voak eased Chumani off the pegs with 950m to travel and the eight-year-old regained the lead about 500m later before winning by a length from Sunnys Little Rose.
Patched will share the back mark of 30m with Luvaflair, with Nickys Son one of six runners handicapped on the 10m line. Patched, to be driven by Aiden De Campo for trainer David Young, came home strongly from sixth at the bell to finish a close second Luvaflair in the Trotters Sprint last Friday week.
Patched began off the 20m mark when he won the Trotters Cup by two lengths from Chumani in February 2023, and then he started off 40m when an excellent third behind Our Maestoso and Evas Image in last year’s Trotters Cup.
Champion reinsman Chris Lewis has won the Trotters Cup three times, scoring with Earl Of Charity (2015), Mr Sundon (January 2020) and Our Maestoso last year. Nine-year-old Nickys Son, trained by Michael Munro and to be driven by Lewis, caught the eye last Friday week when he finished full of running into fourth place behind Luvaflair.
Luvaflair will be driven by Donald Harper for Waroona trainer Nigel Johns, who prepared the wonderful square gaiter Compressor for his victory in the 2009 Trotters Cup.
Johns has four runners in this week’s Cup, Luvaflair, Sellune (Dean Miller), Dark Secret (Lauren Harper) and Aldebaran Sundown, a nine-year-old he will drive from the outside of the 10m line.