One of the strongest fields in recent years is set to tackle this year’s Gawler Cup with the inaugural twilight meeting drawing great fields across the whole card.
The ‘Mayor of Gawler’ Gary Searle is looking to go back-to-back in his hometown Cup with last year’s winner Lady Silhouette hitting some great form at the right time of year to claim the 2018 edition.
An outsider in last year’s Cup, Lady Silhouette will go into this year’s race as one of the better chances after beating a strong field at Morphettville last start which included Silvera and fellow Cup runner Arkham Knight. Lady Silhouette has an outstanding record at her home track with six wins and four placings at the track from 13 starts. Searle’s other runner More Than Fabulous has been mixing his form of late and has only won once at his home track but you can never write off any Gary Searle runner at Gawler!
The class runner of the field is the Peter Blanch trained Jim’s Journey. The galloper hasn’t won since January 2017 but in that time has notched up four Stakes placings and two strong runs in the Group 2 Adelaide Cup. While he may want a touch further than the 1500m, he’s got the in-form Todd Pannell in the saddle who has ridden two doubles in his last two meetings at Oakbank and Naracoorte.
Will Clarken’s recent stable addition, Magic Boy was a bit unlucky in the Listed Murray Bridge Cup where he ran third in a bumper edition of that race. He’s had success at the track and distance over his career and gets the state’s leading jockey, Jamie Kah on board which ticks a lot of boxes for his chances on Friday.
After finishing eighth in last year’s Cup, Ustinov’s Fury is set to take his place again in the field in only his second start this year. He has a fantastic second-up record finishing in the money in five of seven attempts and again joins forces with Ryan Hurdle who has a great affiliation with this horse riding him to five of his twelve career victories.
Arkham Knight will be out to get revenge on Lady Silhouette from his last start at Morphettville. While his best results have been at 1400m or below, this horse has a touch of quality and will be right there at the finish.
Other chances include Soaring High who’s had two wins at the track in his career and most importantly will be ridden by Raquel Clark who is in scintillating form with 14 wins from her last 50 rides at a strike rate of 28%. Travis Doudle’s Star Patriot has a sensational record over 1500m and is in great form with three wins and three placings from his last eight starts. Zanahary loves the 1500m at Gawler with two wins from two runs. He’s been a great addition to the Chris Bieg stable since coming from Victoria and stuck on solidly in his last start in town; while you can’t rule out Optimize from the in-form Richard and Chantelle Jolly yard.
With a huge crowd expected and fantastic fields across the card, there will only be one place to be in South Australia on Friday afternoon and that’s Gawler!
