Mighty Ronaldo flies home late in Fremantle Pacing Cup to deliver another feature for Justin Prentice

Five-year-old Mighty Ronaldo scored an upset win when brilliantly driven by Emily Suvaljko in Friday night’s $300,000 Fremantle Pacing Cup (2536m) at Gloucester Park.

The Justin Prentice-trained gelding, based in North Boyanup, stormed home to claim runner-up Minstrel by a long neck while and pacemaker Diego ran a close third.

Lavra Joe, a $2.90 favourite, finished fifth after breaking gait at the start and strongly fancied Magnificent Storm ($4.60) was always back in the field before running eighth.

Suvaljko, 22, gave Mighty Ronaldo the perfect box seat trip with a one-wide trail in fourth position before swooping late.

It was the leading WA reinswoman’s biggest win and she became overwhelmed in a postrace parade.

“I’m almost speechless and can hardly believe we’ve won,” Suvaljko said. “The horse was always travelling well and my confidence began to grow near the bell.”

Prentice, 34, prepares $565,000 stake-earner Mighty Ronaldo for a syndicate of owners. The bay scored Perth Group 1 wins in the Golden Slipper and WA Derby as a two and three-year-old.

His next mission is the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup (2936m) on January 27 and Prentice is confident Mighty Ronaldo will be hard to beat in Gloucester Park’s No.1 race.

“The 2900 will suit him,” Prentice said. “He can be right in the finish again if drawing a reasonable barrier.”

Mighty Ronaldo, who started from gate four in the Fremantle Pacing Cup, took time to regain form after he travelled to Sydney and ran third in an Australian Pacing Gold Final last May.

“The horse was carrying more condition when he came back in for his current preparation,” Prentice said. “It took me much longer than expected to get him fit.”

A third was Mighty Ronaldo’s only placing in his first six starts after spelling.

“I was disappointed when he ran only ninth in the Golden Nugget last month,” Prentice said. “I thought he had ‘Buckley’s Chance’ of qualifying for the Fremantle Cup after he was forced wide and ran 10th in the free-for-all a fortnight ago.

“But he turned the corner and finished third in last week’s Stratton Cup, enabling him to edge into tonight’s field tonight when handicappers selected the runners.”

Suvaljko began driving Mighty Ronaldo in races late last month, after she shifted to Bunbury and started driving trackwork at Prentice’s Boyanup property.

Lavra Joe was expected to hold the Fremantle Pacing Cup lead after starting from gate one.

But his supporters were shocked when he mixed his gait and conceded front running to Diego, who drew barrier two.

Magnificent Storm, who drew gate eighth, settled in 10th position. He began a wide move in he final lap, but never looked a winning prospect.

Last year’s Fremantle Pacing Cup winner Minstrel, co-trained by Greg and Skye Bond, fought on courageously from second at the bell.

Earlier, Minstrel’s stablemate Mighty Conqueror bounded into calculations for a WA Pacing Cup start when he won a 2130m race.