Jones' claim could be the difference

Harness Racing Owner-trainers Greg and Skye Bond will use Lauren Jones’s junior concession to enable talented New Zealand-bred five-year-old Phoenix Warrior to contest the Princi Smallgood Estd. 1979 Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Phoenix Warrior is an M3-class performer and is eligible to run in Friday night’s $20,000 event over 2536m which is restricted to pacers handicapped M0 to M2. The 21-year-old Jones’s claim effectively gives Phoenix Warrior a M2 classification.

Phoenix Warrior will start out wide at barrier eight on the front line, but he should be able to overcome this disadvantage and win from the in-form pair of VC Manoeuvre and Shirlz Sensation.

Phoenix Warrior has returned to his best form in the past fortnight with superb victories over 2185m (rating 1.55.8) and 2692 (1.57.1) when driven with great confidence by Jones on the Pinjarra track. Phoenix Warrior raced four wide early and then in the breeze outside Royal Mach before getting to the front 380m from home and beating the pacemaker by more than three lengths last Monday week.

Then Phoenix Warrior repeated the dose on Monday afternoon when he raced outside the pacemaker and top-flight stablemate Our Jimmy Johnstone before taking the lead with 150m to travel and defeating Our Jimmy Johnstone by a metre. That improved Phoenix Warrior’s record to 51 starts for 17 wins and 18 placings for earnings of 148,180.

The Justin Prentice-trained V C Manoeuvre will start from the outside (No. 9) on the front line, but cannot be underestimated. He raced without cover for the first circuit and then enjoyed the one-out, one-back trail before dashing to the front at the 150m mark and beating Shirlz Sensational by a half-length at a 1.55.7 rate over 2130m last Friday week. His past seven starts have produced four wins, two seconds and a third placing.

Shirlz Sensation finished with great determination from last in the middle stages. He will start from the No. 6 barrier on Friday night and will have many admirers.

The Bond stable will be represented by 11 runners on Friday night and all will have a strong public following.

Burning (Ryan Bell) impressed with a strong all-the-way victory over 2536m last Friday night and he will start from the No. 1 barrier and should prove hard to catch in the 2130m Princi Smallgoods Sopressa Pace and Bell will drive Baileys Gold in the 2130m second heat of the Princi Smallgoods Free Range Ham the Lombardo Pace in which she should fight out the finish.

Bettor Offer (Lauren Jones) and Our Ideal Act (Bell) have each-way claims in the Princi Smallgoods Porchetta Handicap; Holy Grail (Dylan Egerton-Green) has excellent prospects from the inside of the back line in the Princi Smallgoods Free Range Salami Pace and Simply Susational (Nathan Turvey) and Jungle Jewel (Colin Brown) look set to fight out the finish of the Princi Smallgoods Capretto  Pace.

Ken Casellas