Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr is renowned for his ability to produce pacers in top condition for first-up assignments and he is hoping that recent New Zealand arrival Mr Kiwi will make a successful Australian harness racing debut when he contests the Retravision Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Mr Kiwi has not been produced at trials and has managed just one placing (a third) from his final five starts in New Zealand. However, even from an awkward draw at barrier five on the front line he should prove hard to beat.
He left New Zealand on March 6, a month after his final start in that country, a seventh in a field of nine in a 2700m stand at Cambridge on February 9. He was the lone backmarker off 30 metres and was favourite at $3.40.
He settled in ninth position, 45m from the early leader Fleeting Grin before racing three wide in the final circuit when he moved to second 600m from home. But he wilted to finish six lengths behind the winner Gambit.
Two starts before that Mr Kiwi started from barrier seven in a 220m mobile at Alexandra Park when he enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before sprinting strongly to hit the front 80m from the post. But he was swamped by the fast-finishing pair of Double Rocket and The Revolver. The final 800m was covered in 55.5sec. and Mr Kiwi’s effort was meritorious.
Mr Kiwi’s most recent victory was seven starts ago when he began speedily from barrier four in a 2200m mobile event at Alexandra Park on November 1 last year. He burst to the front after 70m and gave a strong frontrunning display to win by a head from Ball of Art at a 1.56.6 rate, with final quarters of 28.3sec. and 27.2sec.
Gary Hall Jnr, who will drive Mr Kiwi, has several other good drives on the ten-event program, including veteran Im Soxy, who will start from the No. 5 barrier in the 2130m Direct Trades Supply Pace. The big seven-year-old, trained in Bunbury by Brian Clemens, is sure to appreciate a considerable drop in class after recent placings behind Im Full of Excuses, Vampiro and El Jacko. He is likely to carry too many guns for his obvious toughest rival, the polemarker Kingslayer, who has won 11 times from just 26 starts.
Ken Casellas