Aussie News - 30th March

By Adam Hamilton

THE Sydney Inter Dominion seems so far away in this climate, but one horse sure to be a major player is WA’s new pacing star Shockwave.

Ryan Bell’s four-year-old continued his rise with a narrow, but outstanding free-for-all win at Gloucester Park last night.

Shockwave started from the outside (gate eight), did all the work and had to parked outside leader and hot favourite Galactic Star, but still snatched victory.

The 1min57.4sec mile rate for 2536m wasn’t blistering, but the closing three splits were: 28.8, 27.3 and 27.7sec.

“I’m gutted the Queensland Winter Carnival is off, but obviously there’s a much bigger picture,” Bell said.

“We’ll just stay here racing and keeping an eye on what’s happening on the eastern states.

“The (Sydney) Inter Dominion is absolutely a target. He’s grown-up a lot since our Carnival (in January).”

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DON’T panic if you’re a Chicago Bull fan.

Yes he was scratched from his highly-anticipated comeback run at Gloucester Park last Friday night, but trainer Gary Hall Sr said it was precautionary.

“There was some filling, nothing serious, but we’ve come so far to get to this stage I wasn’t going to take any risk,” Hall Sr said.

Chicago Bull hasn’t raced since his freak accident in Auckland in October, 2018 which left him with six fractured vertebrae.

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VICTORIAN trainer Mick Stanley just keeps unleashing exciting juveniles this season.

Soho Lanikai, Soho Almasi and now Bar Room Banta have all looked outstanding.

Bar Room Banta, a colt by A Rocknroll Dance out of Christian Cullen mare Jerada Ace, sparkled winning the Shakamaker Classic at Melton last night (Saturday).

Stanley used gate two to lead and never looked in doubt, cruising away to win by 9.3m over the regally-bred debutante Keayang Kamikaze (Bettors Delight-Libertybelle Midfrew).

The time was blistering, a 1min53.8sec mile rate for 1720m, including closing splits of 56.3 and 28.3sec.

“We’ve got a fantastic crop and he’s right up with any of them,” Stanley said.

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IT’S hard to believe star trotting mare Red Hot Tooth went more than 14 months without a win.

She’s been one of the best trotters in Victoria for about two years, but has kept bumping into stars like Tornado Valley in our best races.

But trainer Kari Males found the perfect race, a drop back to her own sex in the Group 3 Carlotta’s Pride free-for-all for mares only at Melton last night.

And Red Hot Tooth made the most of it, blowing her rivals away after doing all the work to win by 9.7m in a slick 1min56.2sec mile rate for 1720m.

It was her first win since the George Gath at Shepparton on January 12, last year.

Despite being winless since, she’s earned over $120,000 and run some fantastic races, including a second in the recent Group 1 Great Southern Star.

Red Hot Tooth’s now won almost $440,000 with 20 wins and 26 placings from 73 starts.