Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Star driver Deni Roberts has a high opinion of Tualou and she has high hopes of winning the $50,000 Catalano San Simeon Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night with the least experienced runner in the field.
If Tualou is successful it will give champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond their third victory in the San Simeon Pace in the space of four years, after wins with Patronus Star in 2020 and Socrates in 2022.
The Bonds also won the event in December 2013 when Nathan Purdon drove the $42.80 chance Ima Connoisseur to victory over stablemate Commander Chapel ($5.80), who dead-heated for second with Morton Plains, with the Bond-trained Holy Grail finishing fourth.
Friday night’s 2130m event will be the 13TH running of the San Simeon Pace, and Tualou goes into the race with a splendid record of 14 starts for seven wins and three second placings. He will be attempting to become only the second three-year-old to win this event.
The only three-year-old winner has been the Bond-trained Patronus Star, the $1.06 favourite who was driven by Ryan Warwick and led from the No. 1 barrier and easily defeated Boom Time in 2020.
Socrates was a five-year-old when Roberts drove him as a $6.50 chance from barrier three to a last-stride victory by a short half-head over the $3.10 favourite and stablemate Himself, with Markham Eyre ($20) in third place to give the Bond stable a notable trifecta result two years ago.
Roberts has a wonderful record with the Sweet Lou gelding Tualou, having driven him eight times for five wins and three seconds. Tualou began from the No. 7 barrier in a 2130m event at Gloucester Park last Friday week when he raced wide early and then in the breeze before winning easily from the pacemaker Franco Delano, with the final 800m in 56sec.
A fortnight earlier, Tualou led from barrier four and won by 10m from his fast-finishing three-year-old stablemate Golden Lode, who has raced 25 times for nine wins, eight seconds and one third. Golden Lode will be driven by Stuart McDonald, who has handled the gelding five times for three wins.
Tualou will begin from the No. 5 barrier on Friday night, with Golden Lode at barrier six. If Roberts attempts to fire out Tualou she is likely to encounter plenty of speed to her inside, particularly from the polemarker and last-start all-the-way winner Montana Glory, Insta Gator (barrier two) and Mandown (barrier four).
Montana Glory, to be driven by Shannon Suvaljko, is the only mare in the field of twelve, and her trainer Mike Reed said: “She will be leading and won’t be handing up. The run last Friday has done her the world of good, and she is definitely a live chance.”
Gary Hall Jnr trains and drives New Zealand-bred four-year-old Mandown, who will having his first start for 15 weeks. He has impressed greatly with his five wins and one second from six starts in Western Australia.
“Mandown is a nice horse, and I think he has come back better,” said Hall. “I didn’t have time to give him a start before this week’s race, which would have been ideal. He is forward enough, but this is a cracker field.
“We will punch out hard and see where we get to. Maybe he could lead, but we’ve got to try to stay in Tualou early. He should be an each-way chance.”
Insta Gator, from barrier two for trainer-driver Jocelyn Young, is a smart frontrunner who is racing keenly. He set the pace before being beaten by a half-head from Penny Black over 2130m last Friday night.
“He went a tick under 1.55 (1.54.9) and he has shown me that he is better than that,” said Young. “It’s a handy field and we have options and shouldn’t be far away. He has good gate speed, he can race tough as he showed two starts ago (when he raced in the breeze and finished second to Waverider at Pinjarra, and he can also race well with a sit.”
Waverider, the third three-year-old in Friday night’s event, will begin from the outside barrier (three) on the back line, and Kyle Symington has chosen to the Ryan Bell-trained colt in preference to his classy five-year-old stablemate Whataretheodds, who unwound a dazzling late burst to win from Nullarbor Navajo and Star Casino over 2130m last Friday night.
Whataretheodds will be driven by Trent Wheeler from the inside barrier on the back line. Wheeler drove Whataretheodds when the gelding finished a close second to Sorridere in the $50,000 Higgins Memorial five starts ago.
“Barrier 12 is a good draw for Waverider, and he will go good,” said Bell. “I think that the better the field, the better he will go. He and Whataretheodds are both good each-way chances.”