New Zealand-bred gelding Galactic Star appeals as a rising star and he should give leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond a flying start to the ten-event harness racing program at Gloucester Park on Friday night by proving too speedy for his 11 rivals in the opening event, the www.gloucesterpark.com.au Pace for three-year-olds.
The Bonds and reinsman Ryan Warwick will also be strongly fancied to continue the good work by winning the second and third events with Bettor Offer and Char Do Neigh. The Bond stable also has sound winning prospects later in the night with Offtocullect, Our Jimmy Johnstone and Delightful Days.
Galactic Star will begin from the prized No. 1 barrier and he is expected to set a brisk pace and prove too good for the opposition, which includes several smart three-year-olds.
The son of Bettor's Delight returns to mobile racing after stands at Gloucester Park and Pinjarra at his past two starts. He warmed up for Friday night’s assignment in dashing style with a smart all-the-way win from A Bit Ruthless over 2631m at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon when he sped over the final quarters in 27.7sec. and 27.1sec. That improved his record to seven wins, five seconds and two thirds from 17 starts.
Considerable interest in this race will be focused on Beaudiene Beaufighta, a full-brother to champion four-year-old Beaudiene Boaz who will be making his Australian debut after having four starts at Alexandra Park last October for a first-up victory (when he led after 400m and sprinted over the final 400m in 27.5sec.) and two placings.
Beaudiene Beaufighta is trained by Gary Hall sen. and will be driven by Gary Hall jun. He will start from the inside of the back line, immediately behind Galactic Star.
“This is the deep end for him,” said Hall jun. “But he’s drawn to get a soft run and his trials have been pretty good.”
Hall has driven Beaudiene Beaufighta in 2150m trials at Byford on the past two Sunday mornings for very easy wins. “He only does what he has to and it’s hard to get a real guide on him. I’ll say he’ll do enough to run second to Galactic Star,” Hall said.
Ohoka Darcy is another New Zealand-bred youngster in the race who has shown excellent ability for trainer-reinsman Nathan Turvey. A winner at three of his eight New Zealand starts, he has raced five times in WA for three wins and a nose second to Vanquished.
“He’s done a good job so far,” Turvey said. “I think that we’re as good as anything in the race, but the barrier draw (No. 6) probably hurts. I’ll probably push forward and see what happens.”