Neil Evans
If good things – and a much-needed injection of luck – come to those who wait, a four-year-old home tracker is set to reboot his career with a bang at Wednesday’s feature Hawkesbury meeting.
Strawberry Impact, a son of Group 1 winner Pierata in the Blake Ryan stable, could well lay claim to being one of the more unlucky gallopers across NSW.
In fact, punters and owners alike still find it hard to believe the gelding has only one win from 13 outings since debuting at Newcastle 14 months ago.
But after sweeping home for a dominant and emphatic breakthrough win at Kembla in just his third start, Strawberry Impact has had to settle for nine minor placings – seven as runner-up – right up to Saturday metropolitan BM 78 level.
You could argue that he should have won at least three of those races, including a pair of midway BM 72s last spring when twice he got home hard from a long way back after having little or no fortune in the run.
Even first-up in a provincial qualifier over 1400m at Kembla through very soft going, he covered a stack of ground in the run before finishing hard to only miss by a neck.
Now he’s back at home for the first time since early last spring, tackling a competitive benchmark 72 handicap for three and four-year-olds over 1500m on a drier track.
But there’s no doubt from a wide barrier, he’ll have to do everything right to stop an exciting Newcastle three-year-old who is set to start a short-priced favourite from a soft draw.
Night Agent, a lightly raced gelding in the Kris Lees yard, has won two from four, the latest a third-up 10-lengths demolition from the front in a weaker BM 58 on the Beaumont course 16 days ago.
He had previously won his maiden at Port Macquarie before tackling a Listed race at Flemington where he was beaten under four lengths.
Night Agent opened a pronounced $2.25 favourite for the Hawkesbury clash, with Strawberry Impact out at better than $7.50.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays at racingnsw.com.au
