Inexperienced New Zealand-bred four-year-old Taroona Bromac is poised to press his claims for a start in the $200,000 Retravision Golden Nugget on December 13 by making a successful debut at Gloucester Park on Friday night by winning the Better Your Bet With TABtouch Pace.
He is bred in the purple and is ideally drawn at barrier two in the nine-horse field for leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond and star reinsman Ryan Warwick who enjoyed great success with the gelding’s half-brother Tas Man Bromac in the 2017-18 summer.
Taroona Bromac has had only seven starts for wins at each of his past six starts after finishing a nose second to Demeter on debut in New Zealand in January this year.
After three wins in New Zealand, Taroona Bromac has raced three times in Western Australia for easy victories at Kellerberrin when he coasted home and won, unextended, on each occasion.
Competition for spots in the 12-horse field in the Golden Nugget will be fierce and metropolitan wins will be extremely important. Taroona Bromac gives every indication that he has the raw ability to chalk up successive wins in the city.
At his latest outing, in the 2130m Merredin Cup last Sunday week, Taroona Bromac started from barrier three and burst to the lead after 50m. He ambled along in front and sprinted over the final quarters in 28.7sec. and 28.8sec. to win easily from Affluent Belle.
He was not bustled at the start at his two previous runs at Kellerberrin when he raced out wide in the early stages before taking up the running after 550m and 400m, respectively.
Warwick was in the sulky for Tas Man Bromac’s six WA starts which produced four wins, including the group 3 Northam Cup in February 2018. Tas Man Bromac’s career was cut short when he fractured a pastern after winning at his final start, at Gloucester Park on February 16, 2018. He had raced 37 times for 14 wins, 16 placings and $162,086 in stakes.
Tas Man Bromac and Taroona Bromac are out of the unraced McArdle mare Tasmcmanian, whose half-brother Art’s Conquest had 31 starts in America for 12 wins, 12 placings and stakes of $880,576.
The only serious threat confronting Taroona Bromac on Friday night appears to be handy five-year-old gelding Robb Stark, who has a losing sequence of 12, but is getting close to a win after solid placings at each of his past three starts. He started from the outside of the back line and finished with a strong three-wide burst from eighth at the bell to be third behind Robbie Easton and Braeview Bondi over 2536m last Friday night. He is handily drawn at barrier three this week when he will be driven by Stuart McDonald.
McDonald has excellent winning prospects when he drives four-year-old Robbie Easton in the Allwood Stud Farm Pace in which he will start from the No. 5 barrier in a field of nine. He should carry too many guns for the polemarker Absolution and Joe With The Flow.
Ken Casellas