Outstanding young harness racing driver Stuart McDonald makes no secret that five-year-old Bonny Under Fire is capable of reeling off a final quarter in 27 seconds, and it is that turn of brilliance that should enable the Victorian-bred mare to prove hard to beat in the $35,000 Races For Roses at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
A victory in the 2503m stand would give Oakford trainer Ross Olivieri his third success in this event, after successes with Yippy Yi Yo in 1998 and Arctic Fire in 2011.
Bonny Under Fire will start off 20m and McDonald is sure to be happy to keep the mare in a rearward position before calling on her to unwind her typical flourishing finishing burst.
McDonald has formed a splendid association with the daughter of Courage Under Fire and has driven her in all of her 13 starts in Western Australia for four wins and five placings.
The only query is her standing-start manners. She is one of six runners in the event who have not contested a standing-start event, the others being Bettors Gem and La Mia Juliette, Lady Willoughby, Sovereign Faith and Jungle Jewel.
Bonny Under Fire has won at three of her past five starts, all in 2130m mobiles at Gloucester Park. In those three wins she dashed over the final 40p0m in 27.9sec., 27.8sec. and 27.7sec.
Olivieri has an excellent second string in Lady Willoughby, who will start off 10m and will be driven by Chris Voak. She is one of three four-year-olds in the race and has excellent winning prospects. She has won at 14 of her 37 starts and this season she has been in splendid form, with her six starts producing three wins, two seconds and a third.
Nathan Turvey is confident that the Ray Williams-trained Sovereign Faith will run a great race. He was full of praise for the mare after she had finished boldly, out wide, from sixth at the bell to win by a nose from Mighty Flying Thomas over 2130m last Friday night.
“This was a very good warm up for the Race For Roses,” he said. “She steps the stand really good, she’s got a good turn of foot and she’s pretty tough.”
Jungle Jewel, trained by Greg and Skye Bond, also ran a good trial for this week’s feature event when she finished strongly from tenth at the bell to finish a close third behind Sovereign Faith last week. She will start from 30m, with Sovereign Faith starting off the 20m mark.
Leda McNally, an M14-class mare, will start off the back mark of 50m and cannot be underestimated. She has a losing sequence of eight in stronger company. She sprinted over the final quarters in 28.8sec. and 27.6sec. in winning a 2185m mobile trial at Pinjarra on Sunday morning.
An interesting runner is Bettors Gem, who rises steeply in class, but has the advantage of starting off the inside of the front line. She has raced only 23 times for eight wins, eight seconds and a third placing.
Her form this season is hard to fault, with ten starts on country tracks producing five, four seconds and a third. She looked most impressive for trainer-reinsman Shane Young when she set the pace and was not extended in winning a 2185m mobile event at Pinjarra on Monday. She sprinted over the final quarters in 28.1sec. and 27.4sec.
Young is sure to be keen to lead with Bettors Gem and if the mare is not placed under pressure early or in the middle stages she could prove hard to catch.
The previous time Young started from the No. 1 barrier in the Race For Roses was in 2008 when he was in the sulky behind 12/1 chance Mabel Rose, who raced three back on the pegs and finished second to the pacemaker Fake Occasion.
Ken Casellas