Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
Michael George is a full-time worker in the maintenance section of Alcoa’s Wagerup alumina refinery, who enjoys his involvement in harness racing as a trainer in Coolup.
And on a wintry Friday night he completed his first training double at Gloucester Park when Gary Hall Jnr drove Faster Than Dad to a thrilling victory in the $30,000 GPHR Westbred Winter Classic for four and five-year-olds.
This followed his success earlier in the program with Kimble — the second of Hall’s six winners on the eleven-event program.
Kimble and Faster Than Dad provided the 34-year-old George with his first double for nine and a half years since he was successful with Cup Of Life and Meet George Jetson at Kalgoorlie on December 6, 2013.
George was the leading trainer with eleven winners and several placegetters at that annual Kalgoorlie carnival, and then he followed that success by being the leading driver at the annual Busselton carnival.
Faster Than Dad was the $1.50 favourite from the No. 1 barrier on Friday night when Hall got the Alta Christiano gelding away swiftly before coasting through the lead time in 38.5sec. and the opening quarter in 30.3sec.
But Faster Than Dad began to pull to pull in front and he dashed over the next two 400m sections in 28.8sec. and 28.3sec., with Hillview Bondi ($19) in the breeze and the $4.60 second fancy trailing the pacemaker.
Finally, Dylan Egerton-Green was able to get Paul Edward into the clear 105m from the post, and the four-year-old flew home to finish second, a nose behind the five-year-old Faster Than Dad.
The final 400m was covered in a modest 29.6sec. — mainly due to Hall being intent on keeping Paul Edward locked up in a pocket.
“I was in two minds whether to cut the ribbons and go for home,” said Hall. “But I knew that Paul Edward was on my back and would ping me. However, this also hindered me because half way around the home bend Faster Than Dad was like a car with the keys turned off and was threatening to switch off.
“Sometimes when a horse switches off it’s a bit hard to get him going again. I was lucky that he picked up the bit again.”
Faster Than Dad is the third foal out of the Bettors Delight mare Slick Bird, who finished third behind Artemis Belle in the 2011 WA Oaks and was retired with a record of 34 starts for ten wins, nine placings and stakes of $89,999.
Faster Than Dad now has earned $111,816 from 12 wins and nine placings from 39 starts. His full-brother While They Pray (trained by George) has had 39 starts for 16 wins and 12 placings, with his main success being in the Group 3 Kerry Clarke Four and Five-Year-Old Classic in July 2020 and the Manea Classic in Bunbury five months earlier.
Slick Bird has also produced Slick Artist, the winner of the Group 3 Daintys Daughter Classic for three-year-old fillies in February 2018. She raced 143 times for 29 wins, 50 placings for stakes of $370,303. She won at six of her 18 WA starts before winning another 23 times in the United States.
Acharne Girl (19 starts for six wins, five placings and $92,797) is a full-sister to Faster Than Dad.