Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
The much-travelled Hector, a lazy horse at home where he consistently gets beaten by his stablemates in trackwork, obviously saves his best for race nights.
He was the $3 second favourite from the No. 2 barrier in the 2130m Vale Alf Da Re Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he had a tough run in the breeze outside the pacemaker and $1.40 favourite Raven Banner.
Raven Banner set a moderate early pace before the final 400m sections were covered in 28.7sec. and 27.9sec. Raven Banner led by a length 70m from the post before Hector ran home with fierce determination to snatch a nose victory in the final stride.
“I didn’t think he was that tough,” said reinsman Mitch Miller. “I don’t think a lot of him. At home he doesn’t try very hard, and everything beats him on the track.
“He didn’t feel like the winner around the bend, but when we straightened up he knuckled down and got the job done. I didn’t think he could do that, so it was pretty satisfying.”
Trainer Kim Prentice said he was very happy with the result. “At home he is a lazy horse, and tonight we were always going to face the breeze and be tested,” he said.
This was Hector’s second start in Western Australia, following his disappointing debut a fortnight earlier when he hit the wheel of Roll Up’s sulky 300m after the start, stumbled and galloped badly. He finished a distant last.
The New Zealand-bred Hector is owned by Queenslander Tony Veivers, and he has now earned $81,984 from eight wins and nine placings from 26 starts. He won once from four New Zealand starts, three times from 13 starts in Queensland and won at three of his seven Victorian appearances.
One of Hector’s Victorian wins was in the Group 3 Rising Stars Pace over 2240m at Melton last November.
Hector is the second horse that Veivers has sent to WA to be trained by Prentice. The first was veteran trotter Spud, who won at his first two starts for Prentice, at Gloucester Park and Pinjarra in September 2019.