Quality fields assembled for Friday's Golden Gait

By Michael Guerin

The Golden Gait series may be about giving some of the lesser-known Alexandra Park regulars their chance to shine but Friday night’s meeting looks set to be lit up by some of the north’s most promising horses.

The $50,000 Finals will be held this Friday and will provide the biggest stakes opportunity for many of the mid-grade horses since, well, Golden Gait Finals night last year.

But while the chance to race for good money will still thrill the connections of some of the weekly warriors at The Park, the meeting has a surprisingly strong smattering of top class horses.

The night’s main pace brings together Sooner The Bettor, a former Miracle Mile runner-up and this season’s Spring Cup and Holmes D G winner, against last year’s winner of this race Jolimont.

With Sooner The Bettor drawing inside Jolimont he goes into the mobile mile with the advantage if he can return to his best form.

The open trot also looks Hillbilly Blues’s to lose after his arrival as an open class force beating Mighty Logan and Oscar Bonavena last Friday.

While he had a 20m headstart on those stars the ease of his win suggests he is a potential topliner yet he is still only a Rating 60 trotter so will start from barrier 3 in the preferential draw mobile mile.

If he races up to last Friday’s form he should win again.

Another feature race winner from last Friday backing up in easier company is Captain Sampson (R3, No.12) but as the best horse in the three-year-old race he will have to start from the outside of the second line.

As has been the case at Alexandra Park for several seasons the trotting races have drawn the biggest fields, apart from the two-year-old.

The three-year-old event sees some genuinely good Group 1 performers in Youneverknow and Higher Power taking on last Friday’s Queen Of Diamonds winner Ya Rite Darl.

To see Friday's fields at Alexandra Park click here