Bale Duo Set for A Stern Test In All Star Match Races
A stellar night of racing awaits tonight at Angle Park with the 2024 edition of the SA v All Stars match races being run, with four terrific match races in store.
Now in its seventh edition, the Match Race series is one of the premier events held in South Australia with all eight chasers lining up tonight hoping to bypass the Adelaide Cup heats and book their golden ticket through to next week’s final.
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The prize has attracted a star-studded All Stars group with Sandgroper winner Hector Fawley, Gold Bullion winner Morton, Australian Cup winner Tim Zoo and Brisbane Cup finalist Excavation taking on the local brigade.
The four all-stars were selected from a pool which also included Phoenix winner Schillaci, talented Victorian performers Fernando Phil, In The Hub and Mepunga Smokey, recent SA arrivals Fear The Dragon and Not Without and Group 1 National Distance winner Raider’s Guide from Tasmania.
The local contingent is headlined by EASTAR match race series winner Riot Rooster and veteran Victa Marli who will be joined by the Robyn Mackellar trained pair of Euler Bale and Xile Bale.
The Mackellar duo have been flying in recent weeks and will go into their respective match races with a good chance at upsetting their interstate rivals.
Euler Bale has been in sensational form recently having won his last seven starts, which includes breaking the track record over the 342m at Angle Park on two separate occasions. He stepped up to the 530m trip last week and was a winner in a fast 30.35 and part owner Tim Aloisi has been thrilled with his performances recently, which have taken him by surprise.
“Obviously we bought him and he came to Robyn, we gave him a couple of ‘500s’ early and he didn’t seem to go that well but we did have some issues with cramping,” Aloisi said.
“So we had a change of plan and dropped him back to the sprint and tried to work him up that way.”
The strong form over short course at both Angle Park and Gawler led to a tricky decision between Aloisi and Mackellar as to which of the features on Adelaide Cup night they would target.
“He is going very well, but after he broke the track record Robyn rang and we had a discussion about what way we want to go about it and if we want to go to the Country Cup or Adelaide Cup,” Aloisi said.
“We decided to give him a long box to box to see if he would cramp up or have any issues, he trialled 5.20-17.45 to the back and he didn’t cramp, so we decided to push on to the 500.”
“We probably thought he would get a bit more tired than he did (last week), he didn’t jump like we know he can, but he showed great muster and won in 30.35, so we were pretty happy with that, so we decided we will go to the match races.”
While the step up from the short course to the 530 surprised some last week, Aloisi said it was a credit to Mackellar for the work she had done with the dog since arriving in South Australia.
“He was good early in his career and was probably a bit out graded in Victoria. He was a cheap buy and we probably didn’t think he would go as good as he is,” Aloisi said.
“We knew he would be competitive and go alright, but I never thought he would break a track record or anything like that, so obviously a big credit to Robyn and Steve, they have got both dogs going very well.”
Euler Bale will oppose the Jason Thompson trained Excavation in the first match race and will jump from the outside box. Aloisi believes that he has a slight chance of causing an upset, if can repeat his trial effort and capitalise on his track knowledge.
“Excavation is a very fast dog; the odds are against us racing a dog like him.” Aloisi said.
“The only positive thing that we could take out of it is that it’s Excavation’s first look at Angle Park and that we’ve drawn on the outside of him, which is where we want to be. It is going to be very hard but I give him a sneaky chance.
“If we could run our 17.40s and run home in 12.70 then I think the dog could run 30.10-30.20 and the hope would be if Excavation was feeling his way around the track first up, but it’s going to be pretty tough.”
The other chaser that Aloisi owns is Xile Bale, who has also been in impressive form recently. He has competed strongly in free for all grade at his last few starts and held his own well, consistently getting down to the 30.30 mark and Aloisi has enjoyed seeing his improvement each week.
“He’s been pretty solid, he’s no star, he’s not as quick as Euler Bale, but he’s just a consistent 30.40 Angle Park dog who has improved each week,” Aloisi said.
Xile Bale will match up against one of the stars of the sport in Tim Zoo, who certainly creates an intimidating presence. Aloisi concedes that Xile Bale will have his work cut out trying to defeat the Group 1 winning chaser.
“We’ve drawn well, being on the inside which is where he does want to be, first look for Tim Zoo but you’ve got a group class dog against what I would say is just a nice grade 5 Adelaide dog, so unfortunately I think it will be pretty tough for him (Xile Bale).” said Aloisi
In the Group class All Star team, Aloisi expects the winner to come from it, suggesting that the Sandgroper winning Hector Fawley will prove too strong and that he could potentially break the elusive ‘30’ barrier tonight.
“My tip will be Hector Fawley, I was pretty impressed with his trial last and I had a chat to Ian (Cockerell) about the dog and I don’t think he had a ‘500’ for a fair while, he trialled pretty quick at Geelong over 460m and that was probably the blowout he needed,” Aloisi said.
“If he runs the kind of first two splits, he did in his trial then he’s going to find lengths on his run home and having a second look. I think he can break ’30.”
Racing starts at 6:40pm and the match races will get underway at 7:20pm