Chris Voak, fresh from landing the final winner of the 2015-16 harness racing season — when he brought 20/1 outsider Manhattan Billy home with a spirited burst from sixth at the bell to beat the pacemaker Bellerkerrin in a C0 event on Tuesday night — has high hopes of making a successful start to the new season by driving Naughty Maravu to victory in the NRL WA on The Way Handicap at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
This gave Voak his 119th driving success for the season and he finished fifth in the WA reinsmen’s premiership, behind Gary Hall jun., Chris Lewis, Nathan Turvey and Ryan Warwick. It was the fourth successive year that Voak had driven more than a hundred winners.
Pinjarra trainer Michael Brennan engaged Voak after Hall was suspended for nine days for causing another runner to cover extra ground in a race at Bunbury last Saturday week. Hall was granted a stay of proceedings and he started his suspension after driving three winners at Kellerberrin on Sunday.
Hall has driven the promising Naughty Maravu at the gelding’s past five starts for a win, two seconds, a third and a seventh placing.
The Badlands Hanover gelding started from 10m in a 2503m event last Friday night. He settled in eighth position and was sixth at the bell before starting a three-wide move 650m from home and running on with great determination to be third, beaten a nose behind the dead-heaters Assassinator and Pay Me Cullen.
At his previous outing, Naughty Maravu started from 10m before dashing to the front after 500m in the 3309m Marathon Handicap. He set a solid pace and finished second to Our Jericho. The final quarters were run in 28.3sec. and 27.8sec.
Voak has enjoyed a good association with Naughty Maravu, having driven him to three wins and a third from eight drives.
Naughty Maravu will continue his rivalry with Assassinator and Pay Me Cullen this week and those pacers, stablemates at Greg and Skye Bond’s training establishment in Forrestdale, will have many admirers. Assassinator (Ryan Warwick) and Pay Me Cullen (Ryan Bell) will share the 10m mark with Naughty Maravu, with the Bond team’s third runner, Bettor Offer (Colin Brown) starting off 20m with last-start winner Our Jericho (Chris Lewis).
The Bond stable has 13 runners engaged at the meeting and the best of these appears to be Delightful Offer, who will be driven by Lauren Jones from the outside of the front line in the 2536m Maureen Clement Memorial Pace.
Delightful Offer resumed after a ten-month absence last Friday week when he was restrained from barrier five and was ninth at the bell before charging home late, out five wide, to be a close-up, eye-catching fourth behind Ideal Justice.
Ken Casellas