Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Lightly-raced five-year-old Hector completed a hat-trick of wins at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he surged home from tenth at the bell to burst to the front with 120m to travel and go on and win by a length from Valentines Brook in the $30,000 Eucla Pace.
His trainer Kim Prentice was delighted with the victory and said that the long-term mission for Hector would be the rich Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup next summer.
“No way did I expect Hector to be able to come around them like that, especially when they hadn’t gone that hard early,” he said. “Each week he keeps coming out and showing us that there is more and more (to come). I have not yet decided on his plans.
“We may put him away for the big Cups; they’re his long-term aim. In the big races, if he’s sitting back, sniping, you never know.”
Hector was the $5.80 second fancy behind the polemarker El Chema, the $2.15 favourite, and Mitch Miller did not bustle Hector at the start was setting the pace after defying an early challenge from Hampton Banner ($6.50).
Miller eased Hector three wide at the 750m, and the New Zealand-bred gelding sustained a strong burst to prove far too good for his ten rivals. He rated a good 1.57.7 on a rain-affected track. Valentines Brook ($18) fought on gamely after racing without cover over the final 1350m. Cordero ($61) ran on strongly from seventh at the bell to finish third, with El Chema wilting to sixth after having a tendency to overrace due to his pull-down blinkers malfunctioning.
Hector has won at three of his four WA starts, taking his career record to 28 starts for ten wins, nine placings and stakes of $128,384.