Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
New Zealand-bred pacer Storyteller is maintaining an excellent family tradition, and he looks set to improve his record by winning the opening event, the $21,000 Retravision.com.au Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He is a younger half-brother of Our Alfie Romeo and Sista Sammy, who have raced successfully in Western Australia, with Our Alfie Romeo winning at 19 of her 43 starts in the State, and Sista Sammy’s first 17 WA starts producing five wins and six placings.
Storyteller is raced by Team Bond in partnership with octogenarian Garnie Cowie, who bred these three smart pacers with his brother Jack.
Storyteller raced twice in New Zealand, as a three-year-old in April 2023 for a nose second to the pacemaker Glaucus over 2400m at Winton, followed by a most impressive last-to-first victory over 2200m at Invercargill.
He is trained in WA by Gary Hall Snr and will be driven on Friday night by Gary Hall Jnr. He will begin from the prized No. 1 barrier and Hall Jnr will be looking for an all-the-way win. Hall has driven the five-year-old only three times for three wins, and the gelding should improve considerably on his WA record of twelve starts for five wins and two placings.
“Storyteller is going okay and is a good chance,” said Hall. His chief rivals are expected to be Blaze On (Maddison Brown; barrier seven) and Mister Macedon (Emily Suvaljko; barrier two).
Eight-year-old Mister Macedon, trained by Nathan Turvey, is in fine form, with two wins, a second and a fourth placing from his past four starts.
“I would like to lead with Mister Macedon,” said Suvaljko. “But if Storyteller wins the start, being on the leader’s back will be a good spot. “Mister Macedon did a lot of work before finishing fourth behind Heez A Vibe last week. He looked gone on the corner, but he fought on strongly up the straight.”
Blaze On, to be driven by Maddison Brown for trainer Michael Young, has good ability but has been racing without luck.
Hall is also optimistic about his prospects with the Young-trained Illawong Mustang in race two, the 2130m Allwood Stud Devoted To Breeding Excellence Pace. Eight-year-old Illawong Mustang impressed with the ease of his all-the-way win over 2265m at Albany last Saturday night. He will start from barrier four, with Hall keen to set the pace.
Toughest for Illawong Mustang to beat is likely to be Insta Gator, who will begin from out wide at barrier eight.
Trainer-driver Jocelyn Young is looking for a strong showing from Insta Gator, who began from barrier eight in a 2130m event last Friday night when he was restrained to the rear before dashing forward to race without cover and then fading to seventh behind Chivalry.
“If Insta Gator is anywhere near his best he can overcome the wide barrier,” said Young. “Last week he wasn’t quite ready to sit in the breeze. He had missed a month when suffering from a virus. He needed the run last week and should improve this this week.”
Hall said that his best winning chance was Regal Cheval, a ten-year-old he trains. “This is a massive class drop for him, and he should lead (from the outside barrier at No. 8) and win,” said Hall.
Regal Cheval led in the early stages last Friday night before trailing the pacemaker Hillview Bondi and then finishing with a spirited late burst to be a half-length second to Hillview Bondi.