A lot of water has flown under the bridge since Mike Reed trained and rode Manageable to victory in the Four-Year-Old Classic in 1988.
Twenty-two years later, Reed prepared Bonavista Bay to win this classic in 2010, and now he’s hopeful that Bettors Pride (Gambler’s delight) will give him his third win by proving too strong for his 11 running rivals in the $125,000 Pensamarr Four-Year-Old Classic at Gloucester Park on Friday evening.
Gamblers Pride will be provided by site manager Shannon Suvaljko and will be favorably drawn on the number 2 barrier in the 2130m event.
70-year-old Reed and Suvaljko came close to winning this race two years ago when Hoppys Way started from barrier one and set the pace before being overtaken on the final stride by Wonderful To Fly, who scored by half a head.
Reed had three runners in the 2019 Four-Year-Old Classic as Suvaljko rode the expensive $2.90 Gran Chico to sixth, Michael Grantham rode the $2.65 favorite Bletchley Park, which set the pace before dropping to eighth, and Valbonne ($126) was seventh with Ryan Warwick in the sulky.
The 2019 event was a thrilling affair, with Shockwave ($10) and Sangue Reale ($71) locked in a titanic battle down the home straight, with Shockwave winning the verdict by a narrow half-head before being relegated to second after a successful protest.
Bettors Pride has won on seven of his fourteen starts and will certainly have benefited from his efforts in a Golden Nugget prelude last Friday evening when he started from barrier six and took the lead after 150 meters before being placed under considerable pressure with around 1300 meters to travel when Franco Motu surged forward to gain a three-quarters of a length lead.
Bettors Pride withstood the challenge and didn’t have much rest at the front before being passed on the home stretch by Tualou, who went on to win nicely against Im Lightning Banner and Alta Tribute. Gamblers Pride faded to finish sixth.
That was Bettors Pride’s first appearance in a month, after a solid third place behind Sweet Vivienne and a first win over Cordero in moderate company.
Im Lightning Banner, trained and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, will be admired after his solid effort last Friday evening. Egerton-Green will certainly use the horse’s good gate speed from the coveted No. 1 barrier when he is likely to have the choice of holding the lead or sitting down.
One of the biggest stars is the New Zealand Justcallmemiki, who has made a big impression with ten victories from twenty starts. He is certainly capable of overcoming the disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier (No. 3) on the back line.
Justcallmemiki, groomed by champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, has returned to action in grand style after a winter break with a brilliant win over Waverider and Franco Motu in the Pinjarra Four-Year-Old Classic and a leading second at the last start after Copy Cat Queen in the 2130m Group 3 Four-Year-Old Championship last Friday.
He was most unlucky on his last outing as he started from the inside of the back line and was heavily hampered for space in the final circuit before eventually clearing 120 meters from home and sprinting strongly as the final 400 meter sections were completed in 28 seconds. and 27.7 sec.
“It’s not a great draw on Friday night,” said Justcallmemiki’s driver Deni Roberts. “Hopefully there will be more speed, so that we can get started with it at some point.”
The Bond camp also has an excellent second string in the fast Golden Lode, whose 37 starts have produced eleven wins, nine seconds and five thirds. He is drawn to get a soft run after starting from inside the backline. It will be driven for the first time by champion rider Chris Lewis, who has won this classic five times: scoring with Village Kid (1984), Tamai Boy (1985), Vero Prince (1986), Flashing Star (1994) and Saab (1998).
The Bonds won the classic with Ana Malak in 2018 and they prepared Lusaka when Egerton-Green rode him to second place behind Mister Smartee last year.
Excellent trainer Aiden De Campo has two runners in Friday night’s race and he has opted to run Copy Cat Queen for Menemsha, who will start from barrier three with Joey Suvaljko in the sulky.
Copy Cat Queen is in brilliant form and has won seven of her ten starts this season, including her last start victory at Justcallmemiki. She faces a tough test from the outside of the front lines.
“Copy Cat Queen will have to come back from that draw,” De Campo said. “And Menemsha will probably continue. They worked very well this morning (Tuesday) when Menemsha seemed to be back to his best.” De Campo’s best performance in this classic was his second behind Ultimate Machete with Handsandwheels in 2017.
Master trainer Gary Hall snr has won the Four-Year-Old Classic seven times, scoring with Love Of Glory (1990), The Falcon Strike (2001), Im Themightyquinn (2008), Waylade (2014), Beaudiene Boaz (2015), Chicago Bull (2017) and Mister Smartee (2024).
This year Hall calls on Alta Tribute (Maddison Brown; barrier five) and Franco Motu (Stuart McDonald; barrier four). McDonald rode the Hall-trained Jumpingjackmac when that pacesetter finished second behind Pinny Tiger (Trent Wheeler) in 2022. Wheeler is engaged to pilot the Reed-trained mare Lion Queen, who is pulled awkwardly at barrier six.
For full race entries, click here.
by Ken Casellas, for Gloucester Park
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