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Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators

Ace trainer-reinsman Colin Brown disliked Arma Fifty Five, a mare he trained about eight years ago, who wasn’t good enough to race — and he told owner-breeder Jim Currie to get rid of her.

Now he is extremely glad that Currie refused to take any notice of Brown and decided to breed from Arma Fifty Five, whose first two progeny, Fifty Five Reborn and Arma Einstein (both by Renaissance Man) have already won a total of 24 races and earned more than $300,000 in stakes and bonuses under Brown’s expert care.

Brown was lavish in his praise of four-year-old Arma Express after he had produced him in fine fettle and driven him to a dashing victory in the $20,250 Gold Medal Xmas Ham Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Arma Einstein, the $1.60 favourite, set the pace from the No. 1 barrier and withstood some strong pressure from the challenging Power And Grace in the early stages before sprinting over the final 800m in 56.3sec. to beat $10 chance Deeorse by two lengths, rating 1.54.9 over 1730m.

“I didn’t like Arma Fifty Five, but Jim was keen to keep the syndicate going, and that was the only reason we kept her,” said Brown.

“There was nothing about her that I liked. She was unsociable, didn’t want to run, couldn’t run, and was knee-high to a grasshopper. She had nothing going for her, except for the fact that she was by Bettors Delight.

“Arma Einstein’s overall record (46 starts for ten wins, 19 placings and $104,416) is quite impressive. His work on Tuesday was outstanding. He is very, very fast and has run 56sec. halves and 26sec. quarters on Jandakot.

“He is a very quick animal, and when you have that high speed, you are always a danger. He is one of the quickest horses I have sat behind, and to run 56sec. flat around Jandakot, hard held, is quite an effort.”

Brown said that he had been somewhat too easy with Arma Einstein until recently. “We were racing him every week, and three weeks in a row he drew well and was blocked for a run. We were looking after him during the week and were looking after him a bit too well.

“He got too big, really bulked up, so over the past three to four weeks we’ve increased his workload significantly and probably got back to how I was working my horses a fair while ago.”

Brown, Currie and other members of the syndicate which races Fifty Five Reborn and Arma Express are looking forward to a yearling full-sister to those two pacers. “On looks, she is a nicer type than those two, so we’ve got something to look forward to,” said Brown.

Brown said that there were no ambitious plans for Arma Express but did say that he had the potential to contest the rich feature events for four-year-olds in November and December.

“I think that in those top four-year-old races he would be a sniper,” he said. “I don’t think for one minute that he could sit outside them or do a lot of work. He’s either a leader or a sniper.”