08/10/2026
Leading trainer-reinsman Aiden de Campo is plotting to make life tough for superstar pacer Cyclone Jordy when he drives the brilliant Runkle Crunch in the $50,000 Four-Year-Old Championship over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Runkle Crunch, the winner of the 2025 WA Derby, is favourably drawn at the No. 2 barrier on the front line, with Cyclone Jordy at barrier five.
“Runkle Crunch has the draw advantage, and we will try to lead, and hopefully he can turn the tables on Jordy,” said de Campo, referring to the Chandon Classic at Pinjarra on Monday of last week when Cyclone Jordy was successful, scoring a two-length win over Belly Up with Runkle Crunch finishing a head away in third place.
“It is not something any horse has done yet (beating Cyclone Jordy in WA where he has not been extended in winning at his eleven starts). If we hit the rail and he is outside of us, it will make it a hell of a race.
“I give Runkle Crunch some hope of winning, and if he can’t beat Cyclone Jordy this week if we happen lead and he is on our outside, then it will make it hard (to beat him) in the future. I’m very happy with my horse and I definitely want to give him a chance.”
The two New Zealand-bred four-year-olds met for the first time in the Chandon Classic when Cyclone Jordy (barrier six) was having his first start for 12 months, and he enjoyed a perfect trail in the one-out and one-back position before running home powerfully, recording the fastest mile rate (1.54.9) of his career after the final three 400m sections were run in 29sec., 27.6sec. and 27.2sec.
Runkle Crunch, racing first-up for four months, started from barrier five on the back line and he settled down in ninth place before beginning a three-wide burst with 950m to travel. He then moved to the one-out, two-back position, following Cyclone Jordy, and he finished strongly, out wide on the track.
Cyclone Jordy, who got to the front about 130m from the post, won comfortably, and it is interesting to note that all his eleven wins in WA have been achieved by more than a length.
de Campo explained that he expected Runkle Crunch to have derived benefit from his Pinjarra run. “He needed the run after coming back (after a spell) a bit bigger than he had at his previous couple of preps.”
Cyclone Jordy will be driven by Gary Hall jnr for his father and master trainer Gary Hall snr, who said: “I expected him to win, first-up, when he had a beautiful run, but I’m sure it will be a bit harder on Friday night. However, Cyclone Jordy’s work has been very good, and he is on target for the Golden Nugget (on November 6).”
Belly Up, trained by Greg and Skye Bond and driven by Deni Roberts, has drawn the coveted No. 1 barrier, the identical barrier he had in the Chandon Classic when he sat behind the pacemaker Lazi Dais.
Belly Up’s stablemate Our Crunch Time (Kyle Symington) has an awkward barrier at No. 6 on Friday night. He has won at eight of his 22 starts but faces a tougher task than he did in the Chandon Classic when he began from the inside of the back line, raced three back on the pegs and fought on well to finish fourth.
Banjup trainer Michael Young has two runners, Stormy Vista (Shannon Suvaljko (barrier seven) and Lincoln Lou (Emily Suvaljko; No. 2 on the back line), with Emily saying that Lincoln Lou had worked very well on Tuesday morning and was capable of a bold showing.
Lincoln Lou raced five back on the pegs before finishing with a solid burst when sixth in the Chandon Classic.
View the field here: racingwa.com.au/rwa/meetings/harness/2026-10-09/GLOUCESTER%20PARK/GP091026/race/5/GPM09102601
