Golden Fire can be ‘dangerous’ late

By Josh Spasaro

As long as Golden Fire has some petrol left in the tank late, she should be in the mix in the Mares Open Pace over 1660 metres at Albion Park on Saturday night.

The six-year-old brings good form to the $20,770 race, winning three of her past four starts for Graham Dwyer after finishing third in the Group 1 Golden Girl on July 18.

It should be another tight tussle between Tremendous Sensation and Golden Fire.

Tremendous Sensation saluted in the Mares Open Pace at Albion Park last Saturday night, beating a strong-finishing Golden Fire by a touch over two metres. 

But, two of Golden Fire’s three recent wins have come at the expense of Trent Lethaby’s five-year-old mare.

“She’s drawn outside of Tremendous Sensation, which will make it a bit tough,” Dwyer said.

“But, I’m really happy with the horse and hopefully she can have some luck at the start.

“Speed is her best asset. As long as we don’t use it up too much and we just leave a bit for the end, she’s pretty dangerous.”

Dwyer said there was no major feature race on Golden Fire’s horizon.

“We’re just taking it week by week. She’s had a few leg issues and she’s on her way back,” he said.

“At the moment, everything is really good. So, we expect to be able to keep racing her and see her improve.”

With 14 wins from 38 starts and almost $148,000 in career prizemoney to her name, Dwyer said his consistent mare always had a high level of natural ability.

“She’s always had the leg issues, which have held her back. She hit her straps pretty early, really,” he said.

“But, we’ve just had to back off a couple of times.”

Bettors Moon has also drawn gate four for Dwyer in the Mares Qualifying Pace over 1660 metres, which is race eight on the card at Albion Park on Saturday night.

She is a six-year-old mare by Hurrikane Kingcole and out of Im Tilly Devine and will appreciate getting back to mares’ company.

“She’s not blessed with high speed, but she does try very hard,” Dwyer said.

“Where that puts us, I don’t know. But, hopefully it puts us at the pointy end.”

Meanwhile, Dwyer said his multiple Group 1-winner Not As Promised was not far off making a return to racing.

His last start was on July 11.

“He had a spell and has just had a few little niggling injuries that weren’t going his way,” he said.

“So, he’s had a break and come back and hopefully this time in he’ll be sweet as. 

"He has been a little disappointing this time in. I just want him to get back to his good form and hopefully he can build on that.

“The times from others are getting faster, but we’ll see how it pans out.”

Dwyer was also confident that good days were ahead for two-year-old filly Im Frankee and five-year-old mare Ikigai.

Im Frankee finished second in the Group 2 2YO Trotting Final over 2138 metres at Albion Park on August 22, before scoring over the same distance on Tuesday.

And, Ikigai won her last start at Group 3 level over 2680 metres at Albion Park on July 18.

“Im Frankee has got good speed and she can sit on good speeds. She’s just having a couple of easy weeks now,” Dwyer said.

“We were thinking of sending her to the Sires Stakes in Victoria, but we chose not to.

“We’ll keep her up here for the end of the year. Ikigai came to us with a few issues. She’s just been to the vets and hopefully we can get it sorted out.

“She’s going to have six months off. She’s finished three months of that now and has three months to go.”

Dwyer currently sits sixth on the Albion Park metropolitan trainers’ ladder and is happy with the way his stable is performing.

“We’ve had 96 winners for the year, which is not too bad when you’ve got to find a winner each week,” he said.