Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Birchmont trainer Brad Lynn has never lost faith in his dependable seven-year-old pacer Joey James, who was bred and is raced by his wife Katrina and caused an upset as a $47.30 outsider when Deni Roberts drove him to victory in the $21,000 Retravision.com.au Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The victory took Joey James’s record to 81 starts for eleven wins, 23 placings and $109,258 in prizemoney, not a bad return for a horse bred from a free stallion service and from a gift mare.
“I got a free service to an unfashionable American sire Heartland Hanover and was given Soho Honolulu, an unraced Bettors Delight mare, as a gift when she was about to be retired,” said Lynn.
“Jesse Moore had Soho Honolulu, who was not good enough to race, and after looking at her breeding I decided to accept her as a gift.”
Soho Honolulu was out of Jupiters Darling, a very good mare trained by Moore who won the Sales Classic for two-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park in February 2005 and was retired with a record of 84 starts for 14 wins, 22 placings and $142,792.
Lynn named Joey James after his well-performed pacer Walter James (117 starts for 13 wins, 24 placings and $127,011).
“Walter James and Joey James look similar, and they both have nasty attitudes and are quite aggressive,” said Lynn.
“Deni has been driving Joey James, because our son Toby has not yet received a licence to drive at metropolitan-class meetings. And Deni said that Joey James had been flying in recent starts and predicted a strong showing tonight.”
Joey James trailed the pacemaker and $1.70 favourite Machs Bettor in Friday night’s race before Roberts eased him off the pegs 320m from home. Joey James sprinted strongly and hit the front in the final stride to defeat the $3.70 second fancy Brickies Dream by a half-head, with Loucid Dreams ($17) close up in third place after racing wide early and then in the one-out and one-back position.