The highly-successful Greg and Skye Bond training partnership hold all the aces in The West Australian WA Derby prelude at the harness racing meeting Gloucester Park on Friday night with the richly-talented Delightful Offer expected to start favourite ahead of stablemates Bungalow Bill and Ima Connoisseur.
Greg Bond is upbeat about the prospects of this New Zealand-bred trio who should dominate the $17,500 event over 2130m after drawing the three inside barriers on the front line.
Bungalow Bill will start from the No. 1 barrier, with Ima Connoisseur at two and Delightful Offer at three.
Bond is having considerable difficulty in separating the three geldings who are by the outstanding American-bred stallion Bettors Delight.
The stable also has a fourth runner in Friday night’s event, Assassinator, who faces a stern test from the outside of the back line.
Asked to rank the stable’s three front-line runners, Bond said: “It’s very hard. I guess they will all be in the mix somewhere. Probably, looking at the barriers, I’d say Ima Connoisseur, who has a very good turn of foot out of the gate.
“So, possibly, he could find the front, with Bungalow Bill getting the trail and Delightful Offer maybe looking for a trail or even racing in the breeze. On what I’ve seen of him that wouldn’t necessarily bother him too much.
“I haven’t finalised the driving engagements, but Colin Brown is likely to handle Ima Connoisseur, with Chris Lewis driving Bungalow Bill and Ryan Warwick driving Delightful Offer."
"I will have a chat with Skye and the drivers and come up with some tactics from there.”
Dylan Egerton-Green will be in the sulky behind Assassinator, who has had 17 starts for five wins and eight placings.
Ima Connoisseur, who has won at four of his nine starts, was restrained to last from the outside of the front line in the 2536m Western Gateway Classic last Friday night and impressed with his powerful finishing burst.
A 125/1 rank outsider, he was 11th at the bell, went wide in the final circuit and finished fourth, nine lengths from the runaway winner Beaudiene Boaz.
It was a splendid effort, with the final quarters (off the front) being covered in 27.5sec. and 29.2sec.
“He hit the line really good,” Bond said. “He’s still a bit of a work in progress and is still learning the caper. I expect him to run a very good race."
“Bungalow Bill and Delightful Offer each had his first start in Australia at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon, won in excellent fashion."
"Both raced well and finished off nicely and they have pulled up great."
“It’s maybe a bit of an ask if they race this Friday and then in the Derby final the following Friday."
"But the horses will tell us by the way they perform."
"If they earn the right for a Derby start, then we will consider giving them a run."
"But if they don’t run up to expectations this week, then obviously we won’t worry about the Derby.”
Brown drove both Bungalow Bill and Delightful Offer at Pinjarra, with Bungalow Bill, favourite at 10/1 on, untroubled to set the pace and win by just over four lengths from Nellie Babe, rating 1.59 after a slow early pace followed by smart final sections in 28sec. and 27.4sec.
That was his first start since finishing second to Backup over 1950m at Addington on November 11.
He had won at his only two previous starts.
Delightful Offer (2/1 on) gave a sample of his class with his effortless Pinjarra win at a 1.58.6 rate over 2692m.
He settled down in twelfth position, dashed forward to be sixth, three wide, at the bell before going four wide at the 550m mark and surging to the front on the home turn.
He won by just under three lengths from Flyin The Ointment.
That was Delightful Offer’s first appearance since he won in brilliant fashion over 2200m at Alexandra Park on March 6, beating Little Rascal by two lengths at a 1.58.4 rate.
He revealed sparkling gate speed from barrier four and took the sit behind the pacemaking Hasten Bromac.
He was shuffled back to fourth 300m from home before surging to the front 80m from the post.
Delightful Offer is a full-brother to the Bond-trained Bettor Offer, who has earned $137,255 from 11 wins and eight placings from 26 starts.
“Delightful Offer is a nice horse,” Bond said.
“He’s very versatile and possesses a lot of the high speed that Bettor Offer has."
I haven’t had him long enough to get a good assessment of him."
"However, everything he’s doing for us is great and he hasn’t missed a beat."
“We have had Bungalow Bill a bit longer, but when he arrived here he had a few issues and got a virus, putting us behind the eight-ball with him."
"But he’s had a fair bit of work and his trackwork has been great."
"He didn’t run a lot of time at Pinjarra, but he finished with a 55.4sec. half."
"I’m happy with him and he has pulled up great so I expect him to run a pretty good race as well.”
Leading trainer Gary Hall sen. has opted not to start star colt Beaudiene Boaz in Friday night’s prelude and Hazelemere trainer Mike Reed will also keep his brilliant gelding Kiwi Legend fresh for the $200,000 WA Derby on Friday week.
Hall will produce the New Zealand-bred Starlight Brigade (one of six three-year-olds by Bettors Delight in the field of 11) in the prelude.
Starlight Brigade, who will start from barrier five on the front line, has not appeared since winning easily in Waikato on November 16.
That was his second win from four starts.
He finished strongly to win a 2150m Byford trial last Sunday week, covering the final quarters in 29.4sec. and 28sec. and beating Mossdale Flyer by four lengths.
Hall conceded that Starlight Brigade faced a tough task on Friday night.
He said that he had abandoned plans to try to qualify Tact Major and American Boy for the Derby.
Both have been sent for a spell.
He said that Beaudiene Boaz, a runaway winner of the Western Gateway Pace last Thursday night, was spot on for the Derby final.
“I’m very happy with him, and relieved,” he said.
“When he broke in the last lap and was unplaced behind Kiwi Legend the previous week I didn’t know how much he had left and where he was going to finish."
"I thought he was a bit disappointing on face value."
"But he came in blowing really bad and I thought I’d been a bit easy on him."
"So I remedied that and he came out and did the job last Thursday.”
El Comancho, a Bettors Delight gelding, will make his first appearance at Gloucester Park, starting from barrier three on the back line for Oakford trainer Bryan Cousins.
El Comancho won easily in a 2300m stand in New Zealand on January 25 before making a successful Australian debut, running home strongly from three back on the pegs to beat Maddy White over 2100m at Bunbury last Saturday night.
Ken Casellas