WA’s Gloucester Park is gearing up to host this Friday night’s feature pacing event and next leg of the Grand Circuit series, the coveted $400 000 Group 1 Find 30 Everyday WA Pacing Cup (2536m).
The WA Cup is shaping up to be a sensational race with an elite field full of Group 1 winning champions eager to claim the lucrative prize and secure another prestigious victory.
Prolific trainer Gary Hall Snr. has four of his top pacers engaged in the final. Indian Giver has drawn ideally with barrier one, but Hall’s other more fancied horses Talk To Me Courage (br.7), Im Themightquinn (br.10) and Alzona (br.12) have all drawn wide.
Hall’s strong contingent will face some truly tough opposition from the likes of the Tony Svilicich-trained Has The Answers and Bonavista Bay, trained and driven by Mark Reed.
Has The Answers last victory was in the Group 1 Australian Pacing Championship a fortnight ago and the seven-year-old gelding will start from barrier nine on Friday night. He is also the most experienced pacer of the bunch having had 104 career starts.
Has The Answers will be driven by Chris Lewis, the chief reinsman competing in his 28th WA Pacing Cup. Lewis has won the race a total of five times, the second highest number of wins in the event behind Phil Coulson with seven WA Cup victories.
Bonavista Bay is coming off a last start victory in the McInerney Ford Classic and has drawn barrier six in the WA Cup.
Also drawn well in the race and not to be overlooked is the winner of the 2009 Australian Pacing Championship Washakie. The John McCarthy trained and driven six-year-old is set to jump from barrier four and has a 50% strike rate at Gloucester Park, having won 7 of his 14 starts at the track.
Washakie is looking to atone for his unlucky seventh in the WA Pacing Cup last year.
The other highlight race of the meeting will be the WA Pacing Cup Consolation (race six).
The WA Pacing Cup final is scheduled as race seven on the night’s great 10-race programme and is set to start at 8:55pm (WA time).
2010 WA Pacing Cup Final Field & Barrier Draw:
Br # |
Form |
Horse |
Trainer |
Driver |
Class |
| 1 | 19749 |
INDIAN GIVER (NZ) |
G E Hall Snr. | Morgan Woodley | C15 M8 |
| 2 | 21214 |
SCHINZIG BULLER |
R P Bell | Ryan Bell | C9 M3 |
| 3 | 91141 |
PALOMINE (NZ) |
R J Huston | Shannon Suvalijko | C14 M5 |
| 4 | 61011 |
WASHAKIE (NZ) |
J P McCarthy | John McCarthy | C20 M14 |
| 5 | 0323s |
CAN RETURN FIRE (NZ) |
A M Bell | Colin Brown | C10 M6 |
| 6 | 16901 |
BONAVISTA BAY |
M G Reed | Mark Reed | C12 M6 |
| 7 | 66s25 |
TALK TO ME COURAGE (NZ) |
G E Hall Snr. | Kim Prentice | C15 M6 |
| 8 | 25104 |
OUR MALABAR (NZ) |
R J Mellsop | Bob Mellsop | C15 M9 |
| 9 | 3121b |
HAS THE ANSWERS |
T Svilicich | Chris Lewis | C24 M10 |
| Second Row: | |||||
| 10 | 21612 |
IM THEMIGHTYQUINN (NZ) |
G E Hall Snr. | Gary Hall Jnr. | C16 M11 |
| 11 | 5s326 |
TEE PEE VILLAGE (NZ) |
J R Graham | Kade Howson | C17 M10 |
| 12 | 32513 |
ALZONA |
G E Hall Snr. | Shayne Cramp | C15 M6 |
| 13 | 16203 |
HY ROYALE (Em.1) |
K Schreyvogel | - | C13 M6 |
| 14 | 56501 |
AMONGST ROYALTY (Em.2) |
S Torre | Giles Inwood | C16 M9 |