Handsandwheels has a chance to join the greats

Six-year-old star Handsandwheels will need to fire from the second row if he is to claim Friday night’s $450,000 Tabtouch WA Pacing Cup MS Pace (2936m) at Gloucester Park and replicate last season’s triumph by North Boyanup’s Rocknroll Lincoln.

His trainer reinsman Aiden De Campo will need to find a path from the back, with the silky mover one of only three Australian pacers in the NZ-dominated field of 12.

De Campo was philosophical about Handsandwheels’ performance during Friday night’s Retravision Fremantle Pacing Cup, where he finished ninth after spending a bulk of the race pursuing an outside line in second place.

“I was not unhappy with his run,” he said. “But having said that, I was not overly happy with it either. He did the work outside of the leader and it ended up being a track record.

“It was not a favourable position to be in — and it was one where I think the first four were all on the rail — so it probably was not the greatest position for us.”

But rather than reinvent the wheel, De Campo will stick to his usual routine as the six-year-old eyes off a chance to continue the South West’s success in WA’s showpiece pacing event.

“In big races you never know what is going to happen because everyone is trying super-hard,” he said. “People might do things that they do not normally do on horses because they are trying new things in a big race to get the best possible finished position.

“You kind of just make a plan on whether you are going to go forward or back off the gait and then I pretty much just drive on how I see it.

“Hopefully from then on, you can pull the right rein in the race.”