Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Henley Brook trainer-reinsman Robbie Williams is confident his smart New Zealand-bred six-year-old Ima Fivestar General will make a bold bid for victory when he begins from barrier No. 2 in the 2536m Toni Ditri Memorial Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The Art Major gelding has finished second at his two appearances since resuming after an absence of nine and a half months, and he will have many admirers in his bid to defeat in-former pacers Ragazzo Mach, Talks Up A Storm, Tenzing Bromac and Aussie Scooter.
“This is definitely a good draw for him,” said Williams. “A fortnight ago when he set the pace he copped a lot of pressure (from Make It Happen over-racing badly in the breeze), and this wasn’t ideal for him at his second start after a long break.
“This looks much better this week. It looks like we won’t cop a lot of pressure. Talks Up A Storm (barrier one) looks the leader on paper, and I expect him to lead, and we should be able to get on to his back and obtain a good trip throughout.
“Ima Fivestar General is a much better 2500m horse than a short-course pacer, even though I thought his second-up run was exceptional. He was exhausted after that tough run and was knocked around for three or four days after the race.
“It took him that time to recover, so we backed off on him, and towards the end of the week he picked up, and he has worked good since.”
Ragazzo Mach, a winner at eleven of his 33 starts, is sure to make a bold bid for victory at is first outing for five weeks — since he failed to show up from barrier six and finished a disappointing seventh behind Sangue Reale in a 2130m Free-For-All.
“Ragazzo Mach is first-up for a couple of weeks and is going good,” said his driver Shannon Suvaljko. “I reckon he is as good as them (his rivals).”