Dominant trainers Roy Rogers and Steve Wolfe win seven of eight trials in Albany

Dominant pairing Roy Rogers and Steve Wolfe signalled their intentions for another big Great Southern racing season winning seven of the eight trials in Albany on Tuesday.

Albany’s Percy Spencer Racecourse held eight barrier trials ahead of next Sunday’s season opening meeting in Mt Barker.

Rogers finished with four winners and Wolfe had three victories as well, while the only other heat was won by Albany’s Paul Hunter.

There were several closely contested trials with Wolfe’s first two winners scoring by a margin of 0.1 lengths while heat six finished with the same winning margin.

Three-year-old filly Ciao Luna was a very impressive winner of heat three, bursting clear in the home straight for jockey Kristy Bennett to win over 1000m by 1.1 lengths from her stablemate Our Bonnie Gossip.

Ciao Luna has been unplaced at five career starts but did win a trial at Belmont as a two-year-old.

Rogers had success in heat four with unraced three-year-old Hide The Oreos, who was not knocked around by rider Beaux Banovic-Edwards on their way to a 0.2 length win over Little Silver in the 1000m hit out.

Hide The Oreos had the fastest 1000m time of the day, stopping the clock in 1min. 53sec.

Mr Causeway produced an eye-catching finish in heat five for the Rogers camp, sprinting over the top of stablemate Big Bada Boom in the final 100m for Banovic-Edwards.

The six-year-old has not been seen since May this year but won three races last season when joining Rogers from Victoria.

Rogers’ fourth and final winner of the day came in heat eight as Banovic-Edwards guided Double Thumbs Up home over 1000m.

Double Thumbs Up won a maiden for top city trainer Simon Miller in April but finished ninth and 11th in two starts for Rogers following that win.

Wolfe won the two 600m heats to start the day as Witch Street and Divine Mercy both saluted.

Unraced three-year-old filly Witch Street hit the line strongly for jockey Rosie Mahony in 37.17sec. to claim heat one in a tight finish with fellow Wolfe runners Penned and Arid second and third, respectively.

Mahony was then aboard four-year-old Divine Mercy who won the second heat under a hold, beating Ayasha and Has No Fear in a tight finish.

Wolfe’s third winner came in heat six with ex-Miller trained mare Star Storm working home well for Mahony to beat Kutsanya by 0.1 lengths over 1000m.

Young sprinter Le Grande Amour made a solid return to the track to finish third.

There was plenty to like about Hunter’s winner, Henry The Aviator scoring by 0.8 lengths with Kyra Yuill in the saddle.

The four-year-old broke his maiden status in Albany last season and warmed up for his racing return with a commanding 1000m trial win in heat seven.