Ken Casellas | Photo: Gloucester Park Harness Racing
Glamour pacer Magnificent Storm maintained his irrepressible form when he overcame the disadvantage of the outside barrier (No. 9) in the 2130m Dot Williams Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he again proved too fast, too strong and too talented for his rivals.
Veteran Mt Helena trainer Ray Williams was delighted at the victory in the $30,000 event which carried his wife’s name.
But as yet no decision has been made regarding whether Magnificent Storm will be sent to Victoria to contest the Interdominion championship series in November and December.
However, it is my strong gut feeling that Magnificent Storm will not run in the Inters, with the New Zealand-bred five-year-old being set an ambitious program of contesting the $300,000 Fremantle Cup on January 13, the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup on January 27 and the $1 million Nullarbor Slot Race in April.
Most punters considered that Jumpingjackmac would beat Magnificent Storm, purely because the talented four-year-old went into the 2130m event with the significant advantage of starting from the No. 1 barrier. Jumpingjackmac was the $1.75 favourite, with Magnificent Storm remarkably good value at $3.80.
As expected, Gary Hall Jnr sent Jumpingjackmac straight to the front, while Magnificent Storm was trapped three wide for the first 300m before Aldo Cortopassi restrained the gelding and was able to slot him into the one-out, three back position in seventh place.
After a solid lead time of 36.4sec. Jumpingjackmac had the luxury of coasting through the opening quarter of the final mile in a modest 31.7sec.
Cortopassi was quick to weigh up the situation and he dashed Magnificent Storm forward, three wide, 1350m from home to surge into the breeze and apply pressure on the pacemaker. After 400m sections of 29sec. and 28sec. Magnificent Storm took a narrow lead with 220m to travel and went on to beat Jumpingjackmac by just over a half-length, rating 1.56.3, following a final quarter of 28.7sec.
“I went forward at the start, but it was a bit hot early, and I took hold,” said Cortopassi. “There was a hole to fall into, so we dropped in there and settled. Then, as soon as he had settled, we were off because we couldn’t afford to let Junior (Hall Jnr) to get away with too much, and we had to get up there pretty early.
“I said to the boys before the race that we had to put pressure on Jumpingjackmac, but not too much pressure because there were nice sprint horses in behind us.
“So, we had to be wary of not going too hard or going too soft. Magnificent Storm was switched on tonight, and when he’s like that he is just a beast. I consider that this was one of his better runs. To do multiple things in a race, in a Free-For-All, was very good. From the 1400m he was running the whole way.”
Magnificent Storm now has raced 33 times for 25 wins, four placings and stakes of $491,642.