Albion Park Preview
25 January 2012
By Anthony Collins
Low Tide Makes Way for Star Three Year Olds
Saturday, 28 January 2012
A great night of Harness Racing is promised once again at Albion Park this Saturday when the Albion Park Harness Racing Club conducts a strong eight event card in the midst of potentially challenging weather.
A handy line up of pacers is engaged in each race, however the seventh event of the night has an exceptionally talented field nominated to start.
The 1660 metre event is the Coca Cola 3YO Pace for C0 and better assessed pacers of the younger class, programmed to start at 8:10pm.
Western Mail (Western Edition), a pacer which has shown star potential throughout his two year old season, has drawn well in barrier one.
The Bill Crosby trained gelding has been slightly dissapointing in his two starts as a three-year-old which have resulted in him being defeated as an odds on favourite on each occasion.
In his last start as a two year old, Western Mail sailed to a clear cut victory in the QBRED Triad Final, in a brilliant 1.55.9 mile rate at Albion Park.The win in the Triad made it a feature race double for Western Mail, as four starts prior he was victorious in the QBRED Breeders Classic at the Gold Coast.
Western Mail has a record of eight victories and two minor placings from twelve starts. Placed in the top two in each of his seven starts to date, Terror Time (Western Terror), has drawn in barrier five for trainer Shannon Price, who has two runners competing in the race.
Terror Time successfully contended the 2011 Garrards Nursey Pace series at Albion Park, taking a clean sweep of his heat and the main feature.In the final Terror Time narrowly defeated the smart Soho Valencia in a mile rate of 2.00.3 for the 2138 metre event, which contributed over $94,000 to the talented three-year-old's earnings.
One of two last start winners drawn in the race, Judd (Ultimate Falcon), for trainer Lynn Beaton, has a handy record of five victories from his thirteen starts to date.Judd, which has a career best 1.58.5 mile rate beside his name, is drawn in barrier six.
Finishing in the top three in all of his eighteen starts to date, Stanbesideme (Village Jasper) for Southport trainer John Soppa, is drawn in alley seven.Stanbesideme placed in both the heat and final of the Chokin Championship at Menangle in November last year.
In the final, he finished third to Karloo Kix in a mile rate of 1.54.4.The second of two runners for the Shannon Price stable is drawn the inside second row, American Legend (American Ideal).
American Legend has only started three times to date which include two seconds and a victory at his first.Passionate Fella (Presidential Ball), the second of two last start winners, has also drawn the second row, outside in barrier nine.
The Vicki Rasmussen trained pacer is unbeaten in two starts on Australian soil since being brought over as a fitting Christmas gift on the 21st of December 2011, from New Zealand. The two races included a convincing 3 metre victory last Saturday at Albion Park, when starting a $2.10 favourite. Passionate Fella has a career best 1.56.6 mile beside his name and boasts victories over four of the other competitors in just his last two races from only seven lifetime starts.
Racing is scheduled to start at 5:10pm and despite the deluge being suffered across south east Queensland, the track is holding up well.
Tuesday's meeting at Albion Park was abandoned due to the combination of a king tide and un-relenting rain, which wouldn't have prevented racing if it wasn’t for the extensive flooding of all access points to the facility, road blocked by Police.A low tide predicted for Saturday night of a full two metres difference to Tuesday's peak should give the racing community confidence in the go ahead at Albion Park for the Metropolitan meeting.
Action will wrap up at 8:40pm with the Termidor Trotters Handicap.
Western Mail.
Photo by Corey Pearce Images.
