Talented New Zealand-bred filly Angel Bromac is on target to emulate her close relative Arma Xpress by proving too speedy for her rivals in the KAI Construction Gold Bracelet over 2130m at Gloucester Park harness racing on Friday night .Arma Xpress set the pace and beat the Kim Prentice-trained and driven Eagle Rox by a half-length in the group 3 Gold Bracelet in 2012.
Prentice also trains and drives Angel Bromac and he has high hopes of making amends for Eagle Rox’s narrow defeat by winning this week’s classic. A convincing victory certainly would tempt Prentice to set Angel Bromac for the rich Golden Slipper the following Friday night.
Arma Xpress completed the Gold Bracelet-Golden Slipper double four years ago, but she suffered a career-ending knee injury 18 months later and had to be retired with a record of 12 wins and one second from 18 starts for stakes of $279,890.
The inexperienced Angel Bromac, owned by Robert Watson, is the first foal out of Falcon Seelster mare Amaretto Bromac, a half-sister to Arma Antoinette, the dam of Arma Xpress.
Angel Bromac’s winning prospects soared when she drew the prized No. 1 barrier in Friday night’s classic. She possesses sparkling gate speed and Prentice is sure to plan for an all-the-way win.
Angel Bromac is the least experienced runner in the field of ten, with only two starts, both at Gloucester Park. She made her debut on May 24 when she dashed to an early lead and went on to win by three lengths from Miss Twiggy Whitby at a 1.57.6 rate over 1730m.
Then, on June 3 she was a 9/1 chance from the outside of the back line in the $100,000 Diamond Classicwhen she mustered great early pace to charge into the breeze after 450m. Prentice then applied considerable pressure on the pacemaker Red Hot Roxy which saw the first two quarters of the final mile whizz by in 28.8sec. and 28.1sec.
Angel Bromac eventually got to the front 440m from home before she was swamped by the fast-finishing Lady Luca in the final 80m and finished a 2m second to that filly, who rated 1.55.6 over the 1730m journey.
The Justin Prentice-trained Lady Luca, who finished boldly from sixth in the one-wide line at the bell, will start from barrier five in this week’s race and cannot be underestimated. However, Maczaffair (barrier three) and Doalittlerocknroll (two) look the toughest for Angel Bromac to beat.
Maczaffair, trained by Mike Reed and to be driven by his son Mark, has excellent gate speed and she has won easily at her past three starts. She impressed at her most recent start, at Gloucester Park last Monday week, when she started from the outside (No. 9) and began fast to race three wide for the first 450m before bursting to the front and going on to win by two and a half lengths from Sarah Goody, rating 1.58.2 over 1730m.
Doalittlerocknroll overcame the disadvantage of starting out wide at barrier eight to win the group 1 $100,000 Westbred Classic last Friday night. A 14/1 chance for trainer-reinsman Justin Prentice, Doalittlerocknroll settled down in eighth place before moving up to third (three wide) at the bell and sustaining her strong burst to overhaul the 5/4 on favourite Red Hot Roxy in the final stages to score by a head.
Beach Goddess, a stablemate of Maczaffair, has raced eight times for four wins and three seconds and will have admirers. She will start from the No. 6 barrier with Colin Brown in the sulky.
Ken Casellas