Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
“This is the perfect gift for my birthday,” declared a happy Chloe Brown after her partner Dylan Egerton-Green had driven her seven-year-old pacer Tyler Brett to an easy victory in the Italo-Australian W&C Centre 65TH Anniversary Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
This was a memorable win for Brown, six days after her 30TH birthday. It gave her success at her second attempt as a trainer, following Tyler Brett’s strong-finishing fifth behind The Kraken a week earlier.
Brown races Tyler Brett on lease from breeder John Bell, and the horse had been prepared by Egerton-Green for his previous 61 starts over four and a half years.
“Dylan and I are pretty much a partnership, and I thought that with the couple of horses I own it would be good to get something out of it for myself,” she said.
“I have learnt a lot from Dad (ace trainer-reinsman Colin Brown), and I have done nothing special with Tyler Brett. We know that he tries his best every time he goes around. We try to keep him happy and Healthy, and the rest is up to him.
“He needs to go forward (at the start); that’s his go.” Egerton-Green followed the trainer’s instructions to the letter and he stole an important march on his rivals, mainly the polemarker Machlani, by sending Tyler Brett, the $3.10 favourite, straight to the front from the No. 3 barrier.
“Tyler Brett has been knocking on the door, and tonight it was my No. 1 ambition to lead,” said Egerton-Green. “We then got away with a little bit, which helped him.”
After a slow lead time of 38sec. and modest opening quarters of 31.2sec. and 30.2sec. Tyler Brett sprinted strongly over the final 400m sections in 28.3sec. and 28.5sec. to win by just over two lengths from McArdles Gem, who finished solidly after racing three back on the pegs. Machlani trailed the Tyler Brett all the way and finished third.
Tyler Brett, unplaced at his previous seven starts and with a losing sequence of 17, is described by Egerton-Green as a horse with a lovely nature. The WA-bred son of Robin Hood has had 69 starts for 17 wins, 17 placings and stakes of $166,071.
Chloe Brown’s parents Colin and Lyn were excited at their daughter’s initial training success, with Colin saying: “She thoroughly deserves it. She is a great worker and operates at a hundred percent with everything she does. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Egerton-Green said that Chloe wanted to change her career a bit and decided to take up training. She and her sisters Maddison and Kiara work in reception at St John Of God Hospital in Murdoch.
Maddison has been driving in wonderful form, and on Friday night she had four drives for two seconds and two thirds, with Heez Our Perseus finishing a nose second to Machnificent, Manning third behind Fanci A Dance, Diego finishing a half-head second to Bletchley Park and My Hard Copy finishing third behind Major Martini.