Rising star Commander Chapel should give harness racing punters a flying start to the meeting at Gloucester Park on Friday night by overcoming a wide barrier and winning the opening event, the 2130m Retravision Pace.
The New Zealand-bred four-year-old, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, has created a great impression in chalking up nine wins in succession before he suffered a rare defeat at the good odds of 5/1 in the final of the San Simeon Pace on Sunday afternoon.
He started from the back line and raced in seventh position before unleashing a dazzling late sprint to flash home from sixth at the 100m mark to dead-heat for second with classy Victorian mare Morton Plains, just a neck behind the Bond stable’s Ima Connoisseur.
The sky appears the limit for Commander Chapel, a Bettor's Delight four-year-old who has raced 11 times for nine wins (one in New Zealand and eight in WA). He will again be driven by Ryan Warwick on Friday night when Warwick is likely to give the gelding time to settle in the early stages before sending him forward.
Aiden de Campo is likely to set the pace with polemarker Typhoon Tan, a noted frontrunner who has the good record of 55 starts for 11 wins and 16 placings for stakes of $85,612.
Adding interest to the race is the return to the racetrack of Big Spook for Serpentine trainer Gary Hall sen. Big Spook, who will be having his first start since he covered a lot of extra ground and finished a close second to Bhagwan over 1730m in August, has raced 46 times for nine wins (one in New Zealand and four each in New South Wales and Victoria) and 16 placings.
The Bond stable holds a powerful hand in the Princi Butchers Pace with four of the eight runners — Ima Connoisseur, Assassinator, Ima Tragedy and Jungle Jewel.
If Ima Connoisseur reproduces his effort on Sunday he will win again. He will be driven by Colin Brown from the prized No. 1 barrier. The four-year-old gave an outstanding performance to win the Prince Butchers San Simeon final on Sunday when he raced three wide for the first 750m and then outside the ;pacemaker Our Jericho before getting to the front 350m from home and beating Commander Chapel and Morton Plains at a 1.56.2 rate over 2130m.
by Ken Casellas