Racing WA Harness

Smart five-year-old Bettors Pride is in peak form according to his trainer Kevin Keys, and the gelding has excellent prospects of winning the $25,000 Westside Auto Cars Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night and earning a start in the $50,000 group 3 Winter Cup over 2536m the following Friday.

Bettors Pride will start from the No. 5 barrier, leaving ace reinsman Shannon Suvaljko will the option of attempting to set the pace or taking a sit and relying on the pacer’s brilliant sprinting ability.

“He is a good leader but generally I prefer him coming from behind,” said Keys.

The versatile Bettors Pride ended a losing sequence of 15, including eight placings, last Friday week when he failed in a spirited bid to burst straight to the front and then raced in the breeze for 550m before he enjoyed a comfortable passage in sixth position, one-out and two-back, and then charging home to win from the frontrunning Our Crunch Time, rating 1.57.3 over the 2536m trip after final quarters of 28.3sec. and 28.6sec.

Master Publisher, trained by Gary Hall snr and to be driven by Gary Hall jnr, is favourably drawn at barrier two and looks one of the main rivals for Bettors Pride.

The New Zealand-bred nine-year-old raced in eleventh position and was blocked for a clear run in the closing stages when seventh behind Sweet Pins last Friday night. He fought on from seventh at the bell when a sound fourth behind Bettors Pride the previous week, and trailed the pacemaker Hotly Pursued when second to that pacer a week earlier.

Blythewood trainer Kim Prentice has two in-form runners in the race, with Mitch Miller choosing to drive Soho Moonraker from the No. 3 barrier, with Abbey Vidovich engaged to handle Soho The Real Deal from out wide at barrier eight.

Soho Moonraker was driven by Vidovich when he resumed after a five-month absence and trailed the leader Our Crunch Time before finishing to win from that pacer over 2185m at Pinjarra three Mondays ago. He then again trailed the frontrunning Our Crunch Time and finished fifth behind Bettors Pride last Friday week.

Soho The Real Deal began from the outside of the back line when he ran home gamely from sixth at the bell to finish second to Cee Dee Three last Friday night.

Ten-year-old Cams Boulder is racing with youthful enthusiasm for trainer Russell Eddy and reinsman Ryan Warwick, and he is capable of figuring in the finish after starting from the No. 4 barrier. He led and won by a head from Final Collect last Friday week and then trailed the frontrunning Sweet Pins when second to that smart pacer last Friday night.

View field: racingwa.com.au/rwa/meetings/harness/2026-07-03/GLOUCESTER%20PARK/GP030726/race/4/GPM03072613

Ken Casellas

Bettors Pride is a horse on the up and will take on the FFA Westside Auto Wholesale Fixed Price, Fair Price Pace on Friday night for Kevin Keys and Shannon Suvaljko.

Is there a WA Pacing Cup on the horizon for this dazzling son of ?

📸: PacePix