3 minute read

Trainer Ryan Bell has been no stranger to having talented pacers in his care in recent times.

Shockwave and Swingband have both played the role of the headline act for his stable.

Despite enjoying a long list of feature race successes with the pair, a WA Derby is a notable absentee.

However, Ryan Bell thinks this could be the year he takes out the premier three-year-old event.

The Baskerville trainer rates Waverider as his best chance of winning November's $200,000 event, ahead of his Pearl Classic (2130m) heat run at Gloucester Park tonight.

The colt has built a formidable record of five wins and two placings from nine starts, including the $100,000 2YO Sales Classic last year.

Bell said everything this campaign pointed towards Waverider being a major player later this year.

"I actually had the conversation with Kevin Jeavons on the weekend and I said 'he's my best hope out of all the nice horses that I've had over the last few years of winning the Derby'," Bell told TABradio.

"We will concentrate on winning that.

"With his high cruising speed, and he's shown a bit of grit about him three runs back this preparation, I just have a gut feeling he's my best chance of winning it."

Shockwave finished fourth in the 2019 WA Derby behind Major Trojan, while an unplaced run a week prior forced Swingband out of the 2022 WA Derby.

Bell said he had learned from the lessons of those Derby campaigns ahead of Waverider's tilt at the $200,000 event.

"With Shockwave, everything went wrong as a three-year-old," he said.

"With Swingband, everything went wrong at the last minute as a three-year-old.

"This bloke, we've learnt a lesson by not overtaxing him until the right moment leading into the Derby to get him at peak fitness."

Waverider finished second to Franco Encore in Friday's Sell Your Car At Westside Auto Pace (2130m) and both will line up in tonight's Pearl Classic heats in a bid to qualify for Friday week's $50,000 final.

Bell said he expected both pacers to make their presence felt tonight and Friday week.

"Franco Encore will go well," he said.

"The last week he's really stepped up and I was confident he could beat Waverider on Friday.

"He will run his honest race and all he has to do is qualify.

"Waverider will qualify if he's 50 per cent right, given the way the field has turned out."

Tonight's Pearl Classic two heats get underway at 6.58 and 7.35.