Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Star pacer Mister Smartee was slightly below his best but was still good enough to score a splendid victory in the $125,000 North Coast Fibreglass Four-Year-Old Classic at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“Nothing turned out the way I expected, and I had to go to Plan A, B, C, D and E,” said champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr after Mister Smartee exploded over the final 50 metres to win by almost a length from Lusaka, who appeared the likely winner when he was more than a length ahead of his brilliant rival 100m from the post.
“Mister Smartee (the $1.10 favourite) made hard work of it, and he is not quite as sharp at the moment as he has been, mainly because of all the racing he has had recently. This was only his 17th start in a race.
“I think his recent runs have taken the edge off him a little bit, so we’ve now got two weeks to get him ready for the Golden Nugget. We will be trying to get that sparkle back.
“Tonight, I had to make sure he was fully switched on before I pulled him out. Luckily enough, he got the job done. He probably got mixed messages when I was going in and out with him.”
Sorridere, the $9.50 second favourite, was smartest into stride from the No. 3 barrier, but he was unable to cross $41 chance Chivalry from the No. 1 barrier.
Mister Smartee, went forward from barrier five and raced three wide for the first 150m before Hall angled him across to enjoy the ideal one-out, one-back passage. Hall switched Mister Smartee three wide 500m after the start, but he then eased him back to the one-one position.
After a 28.7sec. second 400m section of the final mile Im The Black Flash surged forward, out three wide, in the home straight racing for the bell. Hall then eased out three wide with Mister Smartee but quickly angled back into the one-wide line.
Lusaka ($18) was enjoying a perfect passage behind the frontrunning Chivalry before Dylan Egerton-Green got Lusaka into the clear and burst to the front with 220m to travel. Mister Smartee appeared destined to run second when Lusaka was still a clear leader 100m from the post. But Mister Smartee unleashed a sparkling late sprint to charge to the front 35m from the post and win comfortably. The final quarters were covered in 27.6sec. and 28.3sec. and Mister Smartee rated 1.53.9 over the 2130m.
Chivalry held on for third, ahead of $101 outsider Rolling Fire, who was tenth at the bell and finished powerfully into fourth place.
“Every time I went to go with Mister Smartee, he didn’t grab the bit, so I kept tucking back in,” said Hall.
The New Zealand-bred Mister Smartee, trained by Gary Hall Snr, has taken racing in Western Australia by storm, having contested 15 starts here for 13 wins and one second placing to boost his career record to 17 starts for 14 wins, two placings and earnings of $440,211.
Hall Jnr now faces an extremely difficult decision whether to drive Mister Smartee or the Justin Prentice-trained Never Ending in the $200,000 Golden Nugget next Friday week.
Never Ending, a winner at 16 of his 23 starts, has not raced since finishing eighth behind Don Hugo in the Eureka at Menangle on September 7. He will resume racing in a 2130m event at Gloucester Park next Friday night.
“Never Ending has been working pretty good and I’m happy with him,” said Prentice. “It’s obviously a pretty big ask, having one run before the Nugget. So, he has to run a good race. But if he doesn’t, we won’t worry about the Nugget.”
Hall will drive Never Ending next Friday night, and he said if the horse performed well, he would face a tough decision, regarding choosing between Mister Smartee and Never Ending in the 2536m Nugget. “Either way, I’m going to upset some of the owners.”