She has good gate speed, but her greatest strength seems to be her powerful efforts in the closing stages of her races.
Driven by her trainer Jocelyn Young, the five-year-old mare turned heads last Friday evening with a stunning performance when she was held back from the number 6 barrier and raced into tenth position before charging from the back to go seven wide on the home bend and storm home to finish a well-beaten second ahead of Torpedo Rock, who ran solidly home after enjoying an ideal passage in the one-out and two-back positions.
A week earlier, Sweet Ivy started from barrier one and was defeated by Linebacker due to his early speed. She then followed the leader Linebacker and quickly sprinted home to finish a neck second ahead of Beat The Bank after the final 400 meter sections of 28.7 seconds. and 28.4 sec.
In an effort to improve her early pace, Young has decided to fit Sweet Ivy with sliding blinders, whose main rival looms as the promising Mike Reed-trained four-year-old Mikis Pride, who will start from barrier four with Callan Suvaljko in the sulky.
Mikis Pride, a winner in five of his 19 starts, was disappointed to be a $3.20 favorite at a 2130m event last Friday. Starting from barrier three, he charged forward shortly after the start to race into the wind before hanging on under pressure in the closing stages to finish fourth behind Dame Valour. He falls into class this week and is able to return to his best form.
Young also has good prospects with Skip A Beat, who will start from the No. 6 barrier in the 2130-meter TABtouch Watch Race Replays Pace.
Skip A Beat, a New Zealand-bred five-year-old trained by Cameron Ross, reappeared last Monday after a five-and-a-half month absence at Pinjarra, when he raced the first 400 meters wide and then set the pace before winning by a distance from Beat The Bank, with a rating of 1.56.4 over 2185 metres.
Young will also be looking to improve on Insta Gator performance when he starts from the outside of the field of nine in race three, in which his main rivals are expected to be Hes Never Been Beta (barrier two) and Dawson (barrier eight).
For full race entries, click here.
Through Ken Casellasfor Gloucester Park
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