Tommy Be Good is developing into a standing-start harness racing specialist and reinsman Stuart McDonald has high hopes of success in the $30,000 TABtouch York Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night to give him and the five-year-old West Australian-bred gelding their second success in a Group 3 event in the space of five days.
Tommy Be Good, trained at Byford by Katja Warwick, finished fast along the sprint lane to snatch victory over The Bucket List in the Don Randall Memorial Cup at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon, rating 1.57.2 to smash the track record for a 2631m stand.
This gave Tommy Be Good an impressive record of seven wins from 12 starts in stands, with his 39 starts in mobile events producing six wins.
“He loves standing-start racing and he’s improving with every run,” said the 23-year-old McDonald. “He doesn’t quite like the burn off the gate in mobiles and there’s not so much pressure at the start in stands.”
Tommy Be Good will start from 20m on Friday night, with his stiffest opposition likely to come from Im Full of Excuses, the sole backmarker off 30m who also excels in stands, with his six starts in stands in WA resulting in five wins.
Im Full of Excuses won the York Cup over 2970m at Northam last November when he sprinted over the final 400m in 27.5sec. The New Zealand-bred six-year-old has a great record in Cup events, starting in eight Cups last season for wins in the Kalgoorlie, York, Northam, Pinjarra and Harvey Cups, a second in the Narrogin Cup, a fourth in the RWWA Cup and a third in the Governor’s Cup.
He started from 10m in Monday’s Cup at Pinjarra and finished a close-up seventh behind Tommy Be Good. “He started off ten metres at Pinjarra and was beaten by only ten metres, with the winner setting a track record,” trainer Ross Olivieri said.
Im Full of Excuses has been unplaced at his four starts since resuming from a spell and Olivieri said that the gelding was approaching his best form after coming back “a bit big” after his spell.
He raced in eighth position in Monday’s race and followed The Bucket List with a three-wide run from the 1100m to move to third at the 350m before going four wide on the home turn and finishing doggedly to be just behind the placegetters.
Tommy Be Good was slow into stride and lost almost two lengths at the start on Monday before settling three back on the pegs in fifth position. He ran home strongly along the sprint lane to gain a narrow verdict over The Bucket List.
“He didn’t get away perfectly, but it was my fault,” said McDonald. “He was off the front line and wasn’t properly awake as he usually is when following horses out. Normally he’s a really fast and reliable beginner and picks up metres quickly. He is capable of finishing strongly, like he did two starts ago when he started off 30m and won from Assassinator and The Odd Lover.”
In that race, Tommy Be Good was ninth after a lap and fifth at the bell before dashing to the front 80m from the post.
Olivieri has a good second string in Friday night’s Cup in Assassinator, who has finished second at each of his past three starts. He showed improved barrier manners last Friday night when he began brilliantly in a stand and set a solid pace before finishing second to Three Blind Mice.
The Mike Reed-trained Rycroft will have admirers on Friday night when he starts off the 20m mark. He caught the eye as a 45/1 outsider last Friday night when he was eighth at the bell before going five wide at the 250m and finishing determinedly into fourth place behind Three Blind Mice.
Mundijong trainer Kristian Hawkins will be represented by handy standing-start performers The Trilogy (front) and Danieljohn (10m). They are in good form and are capable of causing an upset. Hawkins will handle The Trilogy and Jocelyn Young will drive Danieljohn.
The Skye Bond-trained Bettor Not Bitter is racing keenly and cannot be left out of calculations.
Ken Casellas