By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk
Bulls trainer Doug Gale has a win and a placing from his first two starters at today’s five race meeting at Palmerston North.
Fresh off a fourth on debut Call Security won race two for Gale and driver Jonny Cox, and then Raging Whitebait improved on his third on debut to finish second this afternoon, behind the Michael House-trained Miss Markle.
Gale has five runners at the mini meeting, including two in the Central Energy Trust Pace Mobile Pace (2000m) at 2.54pm – American Me and Mac’s Tomado.
Seven-win gelding American Me heads into the race with two placings this time in and Gale said with the lack of trials in the region, he may need the run once again on Monday.
“He has needed those runs and he will probably need another run,” Gale said.
“My horses go to the races without workouts or trials. I haven’t had anything that is capable of working with him, so he has done all his work by himself leading up to his first race.
“He did blow quite hard after his last race at Palmerston North so I would expect him to have improved a little more.
“He is still nowhere near 100 percent ready, but he is capable of winning the race with the right trip. If he had to do a bit to get around them he could still come to the end of it fitness-wise.”
He will be met by stablemate Mac’s Tomado who finished runner-up behind race rival Mogul at Manawatu Raceway last month.
“He has improved a lot off his first race at Cambridge and I would expect further improvement this time,” Gale said.
“He will go forward again (from gate four), he has got good gate speed and there is no reason why he can’t finish in the money again if he can settle handy.”
Gale’s final runner of the meeting is recent stable acquisition Dramatist who finished seventh in her debut outing for the stable last month.
“She will have improved quite a bit,” Gale said. “She hasn’t been in work long enough for me to expect her to finish in the money. It’s just a matter of supporting the club with as many runners as we can.
“Because there are no trials down here, it is a good opportunity to have a harder run than she would in a workout, and bring her along further fitness-wise.
“She will need at least one more race to sharpen up to be competitive, but once again I will be very happy to be proven wrong.”
