Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Up-and-coming New Zealand-bred five-year-old Spyglass gave a sample of his ability when he outclassed the opposition in the 2130m Bill and Norma Horn Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
A heavily-supported $1.60 favourite from barrier four, Spyglass enjoyed a perfect sit in the one-out and one-back position before trainer-reinsman Lindsay Harper sent him forward, with a strong three-wide burst with 750m to travel.
Chillin, the $3.30 second fancy, was setting a solid pace, and the third quarter of the final mile whizzed by in 27.6sec. before Spyglass coasted to the front 270m from home and went on to win by two lengths from Chillin, rating 1.58.2 with a final 400m section of 28.2sec.
This was Spyglass’s third appearance in WA. He led and was challenged hard before wilting to fifth behind Thenu Came Along at his WA debut, in a heat of the 1730m Nights Of Thunder on January 17. His next outing was 17 days later when he began off the 60m mark in a field of eight in a 2503m stand at Gloucester Park. He won that event by a head from Star Casino.
“Spyglass got gutted in a heat of the Nights Of Thunder when he wasn’t quite ready and I started him prematurely,” said Harper. “They ran the first quarter in the heat in 26.4sec. which was a bit harsh. So, I gave him a couple of weeks off to get over it, and because I then didn’t want to put him in a hard race, I decided to run him off the back mark in a stand.
“He rated 1.58.8 which was a good time for a stand, and he then trained on well and I was confident of winning tonight.”
Spyglass is by boom sire Sweet Lou and is the fifth foal out of Christian Cullen mare Beardsley, who raced 59 times for three wins, eight placings and $18,454. Spyglass has had 25 starts for twelve wins, six placings and $83,001 in stakes.
The final 800m of Friday night’s event was run in 55.8sec. and the Michael Young-trained Chillin performed strongly. It was an excellent rehearsal for his appearance in the annual Williams Cup next Sunday when he will be driven by Emily Suvaljko.
“Chillin was pretty unlucky to finish second,” said Young. “It’s not often a horse runs home in 55 and a half seconds and gets run down, and not only run down but got mowed down quite easily.
“Emily will be in total charge of my horses while I’m in Brisbane as a member of the Gloucester Park Gurus slot team for the Ultimate Driver Championship at Albion Park,”
WA’s champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr will be representing the Gurus in the championship which will consist of 20 races, ten on Friday and another ten on Saturday. All Australian States will be represented, and the international competitors will be New Zealand’s Dexter Dunn (who is now driving in North America), Sweden’s Bjorn Goop and Canada’s Yannick Gringras.
“This is a great concept and I’m looking forward to it,” said Hall. “It should be great fun.”