Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Victorian-bred pacer Solesseo Matuca, a Group 1 winner three starts ago, will be a major attraction when he makes his West Australian debut at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
All eyes will be on the five-year-old when he begins from the awkward barrier at No. 6 in the WA Hall Of Fame Submissions Due Pace, the second heat of the Nights Of Thunder.
He possesses sparkling gate speed and there appears to be a strong chance that owner Frank Ranaldi, trainer Nathan Turvey and reinsman Gary Hall Jnr will decide to use this vital asset at his first start for eleven weeks.
Two heats will be decided on Friday night, with the nine fastest runners qualifying for the $50,000 Nights Of Thunder final on Friday week.
Solesseo Matuca has arrived in WA with splendid credentials. His past nine starts in Victoria have produced four wins, two seconds and three thirds.
At his most recent appearance, over 2240m at Melton on October 28, he began speedily from barrier six and burst straight to the front. He then raced fiercely and sprinted over the final 400m sections in 27.7sec. and 27.8sec. before holding on determinedly to win narrowly from Charlies Angel in a six-horse blanket finish. He rated 1.56.2.
Two starts before that, in the $150,000 Vicbred final for four-year-old horses and geldings, he began from barrier No. 2 and led for the first 200m before trailing the pacemaker and favourite Eye Think and using the sprint lane to hit the front 70m from the post and hold on to win by 2m from the fast-finishing Rubins Plight, rating 1.55.2 over 2240m.
Solesseo Matuca, trained by Damien Burns, was a highly-promising juvenile pacer who had 20 starts as a two-year-old for six wins and nine placings. He finished second to Heza Son Of Agun in a Group 1 classic at Melton as a two-year-old and was second to the same pacer in a Group 1 event as a three-year-old at Melton.
Strangely, he did not win at any of his seven starts as a three-year-old, and he had a losing sequence of 19 over 19 months between December 2021 and August 2023. But in March 2022 he gave a sample of his ability when he finished fourth behind the brilliant Leap To Fame in the New South Wales Derby at Menangle.
As a four-year-old he has raced 18 times for four wins and five placings, taking his career record to ten wins, ten seconds and eight thirds from 45 starts for earnings of $234,280.
Hall had little hesitation in choosing to drive Solesseo Matuca on Friday night in preference to the Michael Young-trained Lamandier, who he has driven 20 times for five wins and eight placings. Lamandier is a smart beginner and splendid frontrunner who should be prominent from the No. 1 barrier. He will be handled by Maddison Brown.
There is a lot of exposed form in the race in which Crowd Control (barrier No. 3) will be attempting to extend his winning sequence to four. He has led and has won in good style at Gloucester Park and Bunbury at his past two outings.
Goodfellaz (barrier two), All Is Well (four), Chal Patch (seven) and Rubins Plight (eight) cannot be underestimated in what should be a highly competitive event.