Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Stuart McDonald celebrated his first drive behind star pacer Minstrel by guiding him to victory in the $31,000 Westbred The Way Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night, a win which will put him in the forefront of champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond’s plans for their choice of their runner in the $1,250,000 Nullarbor slot race on April 19.
Minstrel, the $3.80 second fancy behind stablemate Ideal Agent, the $1.38 favourite, caused a minor upset by beating him after working hard all the way.
Minstrel began out wide at barrier eight and McDonald sent him forward with an early three-wide burst to race in the breeze outside the pacemaker and $23 chance Talks Up A Storm, while Deni Roberts gave Ideal Agent a favourable trip in the one-out, one-back position, following Minstrel.
Modest early times of a 37.9sec. lead time and opening quarters of 30.9sec. and 29.7sec. were followed by strong final 400m sections of 27.6sec. and 27.4sec. Minstrel got to the front 300m from home and he held the determined Ideal Agent at bay to score by a half-neck at a 1.56 rate.
“I enjoyed driving Minstrel once I got past the nerves,” said McDonald. “I haven’t been nervous driving a horse for a while, but I did have some nerves tonight.
“I had not driven Minstrel before. He seems to be out of that rut when he used to do things wrong, and I didn’t want that to happen to me. Once the amber light went on, I was fine. The plan was to roll forward and work our way to the breeze where he races at his best.
“He travelled beautifully, and he sped up when I wanted him to go. He was actually going to the line jogging. He is race hardened and seems to be in a very good patch at the moment.”
Roberts, who chose to handle Ideal Agent in preference to Minstrel, was not disappointed at Ideal Agent’s defeat, saying: “I’m happy with his run. The speed was just a bit too slow, and they got home in 27.4sec. And I would say that Ideal Agent ran about 27sec. So, the times were against him.
“Minstrel was super. It was a pretty soft breeze, and they ran a good last 600m. He’s looking Nullarbor bound. We’ve got Minstrel, Ideal Agent, Steel The Show and Tenzing Bromac, and Minstrel is definitely at the top at the moment.”
Minstrel has won in convincing style at his past four starts which have improved his record to 57 starts for 22 wins, 17 placings and stakes of $769,608.