Ken Casellas | Race Replay
A little more than13 years ago, 4788 days to be exact, Dylan Egerton-Green drove a horse for leading trainer Gary Hall Snr for the first time, and he celebrated the occasion by winning the 2130m metro-class event with $26.90 chance Alpeegee at Gloucester Park on April 5, 2013.
And to the best of his knowledge, Egerton-Green was engaged to handle a horse from the Hall stable for just the second time, and he was more than happy to drive Sweet Pins, an $8.90 chance in the Trotsynd, Join The Fun Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Sweet Pins was unfavourably drawn on the outside of the front line, with his stablemates Seaside Pond, the $1.70 favourite from barrier four, and A Little Silence, a $6.50 chance from the outside of the back line.
With Seaside Pond, driven by Stuart McDonald, setting the pace, a patient Egerton-Green was content to keep the New Zealand-bred five-year-old in last position in the field of twelve until he sent him forward 900m from home.
Moments after Sweet Pins began his move Chris Voak switched $71 chance Our Vinnie out three wide, thus giving Sweet Pins an ideal trail in the final circuit. Sweet Pins sustained his run and took the lead 100m from the post and won by almost a length from A Little Silence, who flew home for Maddison Brown from the rear with a powerful four-wide burst.
Seaside Pond, driven by Stuart McDonald, hung out for most of the way and wilted over the final stages to finish tenth.
Egerton-Green was delighted to have the opportunity to handle Sweet Pins, who had set the pace before fading to last behind Golden Lode the previous Friday night.
“Sweet Pins had performed well when a Pinjarra winner four days before last week’s run and I thought he was a good chance tonight because there was a bit of heat when he was beaten last Friday night,” said Egerton-Green.
“I was hoping there would be a bit of speed on early tonight and I planned to look after the horse and give him an economical run.”
The 33-year-old Egerton-Green recalled his win with seven-year-old gelding Alpeegee in 2013 when Hall Snr had five runners in the race.
Alpeegee began from barrier two on the back line and raced three back on the pegs before finishing strongly to win by a neck from another Hall-trained pacer, Whos Mistake, who was handled by Gary Hall Jnr. The other stablemates were My Jasami (Kaiden Hayter, fourth), Some Kinda Tactics (Shane Butcher, sixth) and Sanjaya (Aiden De Campo, eleventh).