Evil Roadster and Pole Paradise catch the eye
Trainer O'Hara takes three of Tuesday's six trials
On a Tuesday morning when there was little lung-busting, eye-openers at the trials, seven-year-old POLE PARADISE showed us that there was still plenty left in the old petrol tank.
Sent out in the fifth of six trials, the Australian-bred allowed LIM'S STARDOM to lead briefly just after the start before he took command just before the first turn to lead the field home.
Ridden by Troy See, the three-time winner was never in any danger and cruised in by one-and-a-quarter lengths from FAITHFULLY, who was always handy, and the early leader Lim's Stardom who stayed on for the minor prize.
It was almost a year ago to the day when Pole Paradise last greeted the judge.
That day, when ridden by Erasmus Aslam, Pole Paradise came off the box seat, before the field straightened, to see them home by almost a length.
It was like a carbon copy of an earlier victory in January last year when he won a Class 4 sprint with Joseph See in the saddle.
Back then, Pole Paradise was in the hands of Daniel Meagher and ZL Mok respectively.
He has so far had three starts and a bunch of trials while under the care of trainer John O'Hara and a win does seem long overdue. Pole Paradise's time of 59.98sec for the 1,000m was the fastest of the morning.
Incidentally and as it turned out, Pole Paradise was the meat in a John O'Hara sandwich - the "bread" being SATELLITE MAN, who took the fourth trial and FLASH ONE who beat them all in the sixth and last trial. In the only test held on Tuesday, ONE FORCE - who was being tested with the blinkers - ran them ragged to win with three lengths to spare.
The three-year-old from Ricardo Le Grange's yard took command 250m out and ran the trip in 59.99sec.
In the second of two Official Race Trials, EVIL ROADSTER went into many notebooks when he scored with six lengths to spare.
It was a truly inspiring show from the three-year-old son of Canford Cliffs who clocked a good time of 60.02sec - easing up.
This was his second win in two trials. It was in May that he scored by three-and-a-half lengths when carrying 64kg. His time that day was 61.01sec.
Evil Roadster was due to run on Sunday but was a scratching. Watch him when he does race. It sure looks like it'll be a winning debut.
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