Champion trainer Gary Hall sen. is aiming to complete a hat-trick of wins in the $35,000 Lord Mayor’s Cup after talented New Zealand-bred six-year-old Cyamach drew the coveted No. 1 barrier in the group 3 feature over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
And Kim Prentice is hoping that it will be a case of history repeating itself when he drives Cyamach for the first time in a race.
Two years ago Prentice was engaged by Hall to drive Livingontheinterest in the Lord Mayor’s Cup and the then New Zealand-bred six-year-old was a heavily-supported 7/4 on favourite who set the pace from barrier two and held on to defeat stablemate and 9/4 second fancy Hokonui Ben by a half-head.
Hokonui Ben was handled by Prentice’s son Justin, who will drive the Hall-trained Mohegan Sun from barrier two in Friday night’s Cup.
Mohegan Sun is in splendid form, with a win and two seconds from his past three starts.
Both Cyamach and Mohegan Sun were driven by Clint Hall at their most recent appearances, last Friday night.
But Hall has given punters a massive lead by choosing to drive Elegant Christian in preference to Cyamach, Mohegan Sun and Soho Lennon (who will be driven by Nathan Turvey).
Elegant Christian, a richly-talented and lightly-raced five-year-old, was recently transferred from the Hall training establishment in Serpentine to the stables of Clive Dalton in Herron for the gelding to experience a change of environment.
Clint Hall has a special bond with Elegant Christian, whom he has driven at his past 20 starts for 11 wins, four seconds and two thirds.
Eight of those wins came after Elegant Christian had set the pace.
He will start from the No. 4 barrier on the front line on Friday night and Hall is expected to make a bold bid for the early lead.
However, Cyamach is a brilliant frontrunner and Kim Prentice is sure to be most reluctant to surrender this advantage.
Star reinsman Gary Hall jun. gave an insight to his thoughts on Cyamach last Friday week after driving the gelding to an all-the-way victory over Elegant Christian over 2536m when he said: “He’s a great leader. But he’s a funny sort of horse who has gone below par a few times when he has gone wide on the track.”
Hall jun. is under suspension and Clint Hall was in the sulky last Friday night when Cyamach gave a strong performance to finish second to the frontrunning Leda McNally over 2536m.
Cyamach was most impressive. He started from the outside barrier (No. 9) and raced in ninth and last position before moving to sixth at the bell and sustaining a spirited three-wide burst.
Hall sen. has trained the winner of the Lord Mayor’s Cup six times. He has been successful with Tricky Bey (1994), Abit Rich (1997), Live To Reign (2007), Talk To Me Courage (2010), Livingontheinterest (2014) and Northview Punter (2015).
Chris Lewis has the best record by a reinsman in the event, which he has won eight times, scoring with Village Kid (1985, ‘86,’ 89 and ‘90), Ballantines (1992), Desert Patrol (1993), Royal Motoring (198) and Ohoka Ace (2005).
But his prospects of a ninth victory were dealt a savage blow when the Peter Anderson-trained Lisharry fared badly in the random draw and faces an extremely difficult task from barrier nine on the front line.
Bettors Fire, trained and driven by Kyle Harper, looks certain to vie for favouritism with Cyamach and Elegant Christian.
He is an M11-class pacer and is the best-performed runner in the Cup, with earnings of $455,332 from 27 wins and 14 placings from 67 starts.
Bettors Fire will start from barrier five on the front line and Harper is likely to determine his tactics in the early stages.
He will have the option of using the handsome gelding’s sparkling gate speed or restraining the gelding and waiting for an ideal opportunity to dash forward.
He is a strong and versatile pacer who looks set to fight out the finish.
Bettors Fire is sure to appreciate a considerable drop in class after contesting two heats of the interdominion championship, the Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup at his past four starts.
He led for the first 650m and then sat behind the pacemaker Beaudiene Boaz when an excellent third behind that star pacer in the 2536m Fremantle Cup.
A week later he started out wide at barrier seven, was restrained to the rear and raced wide in the final circuit before finishing ninth behind My Hard Copy.
He was unable to get into the race at any stage and it is likely to be a vastly different story this week.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Our Blackbird continues to race with admirable enthusiasm and is capable of a bold showing. He will start from barrier six and Stuart McDonald is certain to rely on the eight-year-old’s strong finishing burst.
Ken Casellas
