Racing: Howard Bromac answers gate-speed questions

Kirk Larsen now knows that Howard Bromac has gate speed - but not as much as fellow free-for-all pacer Napoleon.

The pair engaged in a brutal front-running war over the opening 400m of the $50,000 Waikato Times Flying Mile at Cambridge Raceway on Friday night.

Napoleon had to burn from barrier two to cross Howard Bromac as they covered the opening 400m of the sprint feature in 26.9 seconds.

Napoleon was pressured on the outer by Man With The Money and was a sitting duck for sprint finishers in the home stretch where Howard Bromac took full advantage of the passing lane to come powerfully along the inner to win.

Howard Bromac scored by a length over the solid-finishing Country Ways with a further short head back to Napoleon (third).

The mile was cut out in 1.55.1 with closing 800m and 400m sectional splits of 58.4 and 28.2 seconds.

"With the mobile racing coming up in the Inter Dominion Series in Tasmania, this race at Cambridge gave me the ideal opportunity to test the gate speed of Howard Bromac," said Larsen.

"I put the blinds on him for this race to fire him up and get him a little keener behind the mobile gate because it is something we will have to do during the Inter Dominion Series in Tasmania if we get a handy barrier draw.

"He was fast out of the gate but not as fast as Napoleon but he still ran a very slick opening quarter [400m] at the start.

"We were able to get a nice tow behind Barry [Purdon, trainer-driver of Napoleon] and he was pressured enough in front to give us a good shot at him up the passing lane in the home stretch.

"I wasn't sure if we were going to start him here at Cambridge but he took no harm from his last-start win in the Auckland Cup and the stake money and mobile free-for-all conditions were too good to ignore.

"He's booked to fly out to Melbourne on January 17 and he'll race in the Ballarat Cup [Group One $A125,000, January 28] and Hunter Cup [Group One $A500,000, February 12] before heading to Tasmania for the Inter Dominion Series [March 19, 22, 26 and April 2].

"He's a seasoned traveller and will thrive in the hot humid weather in Australia and a tough racing series like the Inter Dominions.

"We were unlucky not to finish closer than fourth in last year's final behind Elsu and that series proved that he's a horse that thrives on that tough back-to-back racing."


- HERALD ON SUNDAY