Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Five-year-old The Miki Taker, the youngest and least experienced runner in the $31,000 Rotary Club Of Fremantle Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night, has excelled since graduating to open-class company and he looks a major hope in the 2536m feature event.
“He has taken to the rise in Free-For-All company in super style,” said trainer-reinsman Aiden de Campo after landing four winners at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening.
“Free-For-Alls over 2536m suit him, especially when there is no stand-out. It should be an up-tempo race, which he enjoys. His work this morning (Tuesday) was good, and he will run another honest race. Hopefully, he can work his way somewhere on the speed.”
The Miki Taker produced another outstanding performance when third behind Never Ending and Tenzing Bromac in the 2536m Winter Cup last Friday night when the margins in what was almost a triple dead-heat were a head and a nose.
He raced in fifth position, three back on the pegs, before getting into the clear 550m from home and finishing with a powerful burst.
The previous week he impressed when he raced in sixth position, one-out and two-back, and was switched three wide with 250m to travel to win from Mighty Conqueror and Hampton Banner.
The Miki Taker will start from the No. 3 barrier is unlikely to have enough speed to take an early lead, particularly with fast beginners The Code Breaker (barrier one) and Talks Up A Storm (two) drawn to his inside.
Mighty Conqueror, who will begin from the outside barrier in the field of nine, looms as a major threat to The Miki Taker. The Greg and Skye Bond-trained nine-year-old made a wonderful return to racing after a 12-month absence when he enjoyed an ideal passage in the one-out, one-back position before finishing determinedly to finish second, a neck behind The Miki Taker in a 2130m Free-For-All last Friday week.
Mighty Conqueror will again be driven by Deni Roberts, who is confident of a stout-hearted effort from the veteran pacer. “In-form horses have drawn inside of him,” she said.
“It’s a long trip and he has had one run under his belt. Being driven sit-sprint first-up wasn’t really his go. He will be doing the work (in the breeze) at some stage, I’d say. I think he is better up there, rolling, and it looks like he will be able to do that on Friday.”
Champion trainer Gary Hall snr will have two runners, Wildwest and Diego, who are recent winners over 2130m, and will have admirers.
Wildwest will start out wide at barrier seven, with Stuart McDonald in the sulky, and Maddison Brown will handle Diego from barrier No. 5.
The Kim Prentice-trained Soho Dow Jones, who is 13 days older than The Miki Taker, will start from the No. 4 barrier and will be driven by Mitch Miller. Soho Dow Jones reappeared after a four-month absence when he raced in eleventh position, six back on the pegs, and made up a lot of ground to finish seventh behind Never Ending last Friday night. He is sure to have derived plenty of benefit from that effort.