Lightly-raced five-year-old Elegant Christian has recovered from a hoof abscess and the harness racing gelding gets an excellent chance of returning to the winning list at Gloucester Park on Friday night, despite starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) in the 1730m Slater Gartrell Sports Alex’s 21 and Amy’s 18 Pace.
Clint Hall will resume as the driver of the gelding and Herron trainer Clive Dalton will be anxious for Elegant Christian to go forward in a bid for the lead or to put himself in the race in the breeze.
Elegant Christian is an M5-class performer who has earned $220,389 from 14 wins and six placings from 26 starts. His chief rivals appear to be polemarker Courage Tells, Change Stride (barrier two), Ideal Alice (three) and Fernleigh Rebel (eight).
Elegant Christian will be having his first start since finishing fifth in the 2692m Pinjarra Cup on March 7 when he began from the back line and fought on from sixth at the bell to be fifth behind Tricky Styx. Two starts earlier he began speedily from the No. 7 barrier and burst to the front after 400m before setting a brisk pace and winning easily from Cyamach and Lisharry at a 1.53.9 rate over 2130m.
The consistent Courage Tells is racing keenly for Hopeland trainer Colin Joss and he should be prominent from the inside barrier. He enjoyed an ideal passage behind the pacemaker Ima Connoisseur before sprinting home fast to snatch victory at a 1.54.1 rate from Lettuceriprita over 2130m on Thursday night of last week.
Change Stride rattled home from seventh at the bell to finish an eye-catching third and the four-year-old has sound prospects from barrier two.
Ideal Alice, a winner at 11 of her 29 starts, will resume after a spell and is handily drawn at barrier three. However, it is problematic whether she will be able to muster sufficient speed to get to an early lead. She has not raced since finishing strongly into third place behind Nike Franco and Jungle Jewel in the $125,000 Mares Classic at Gloucester Park on December 13. She ran home solidly when second to stablemate Besotted in a 2185m Byford trial on Sunday morning.
Ken Casellas