Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr drove superstar pacer Im Themightyquinn to 50 of his 58 victories in a glittering career, and he will be seeking his fourth success in the $30,000 Ascot Group WA Im Themightyquinn Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He trains and drives former Victorian performer Final Collect, the solitary runner off the back line back line in the 213m feature event, leaving him with many options.
Hall has won this event with Caviar Star (2019), Acharne Girl (2023) and Ira Poole (2024), and Final Collect ran a sound trial for Friday night’s event with a convincing first-up victory in weaker company last Friday week.
That was his first appearance for 15 weeks, and he is sure to have derived great benefit from his solid effort. He won at two of his 12 New Zealand starts, his 48 starts in Victoria produced six wins and 13 placings, and he has had two runs in WA for Hall for an unlucky first-up third behind Bettors Pride at Gloucester Park on September 12, 2025, his first outing for four months.
At his latest appearance Final Collect began out wide at barrier seven and was restrained to the rear before Hall dashed him forward to move to the breeze and then take the lead with 1300m to travel. The final 400m sections were run in 28sec. and 28.9sec. and he won by just over a length from Manhattan Moon, rating 1.57.2.
Creating considerable interest in Friday night’s race will be the reappearance of crack five-year-old Justcallmemiki, who will be having his first start for 14 weeks for champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond and star driver Deni Roberts.
The New Zealand-bred gelding drops massively in class, and he should prove mighty hard to beat. He has raced 26 times for eleven wins and four placings. After winning at four of his 12 New Zealand starts Justcallmemiki made a superb Australian debut at Gloucester Park in February 2025 when he led from the No. 1 barrier and won the Group 3 Chandon Four-Year-Old Classic, beating Waverider by three lengths.
Four starts ago Justcallmemiki trailed the pacemaker and finished a nose second to Waverider in the Group 1 Golden Nugget last November, and six months earlier he contested the Nullarbor slot race in which he enjoyed no luck from out wide at barrier eight and finished last behind Mister Smartee.
Among the main opponents for Final Collect and Justcallmemiki are Petes Honour, Minos and Rockandrollartist.
Petes Honour, trained by Jemma Hayman, will start from the No. 6 barrier, with Chris Lewis taking over as the driver from Chris Voak, who is serving a week’s suspension. Voak has driven Petes Honour at his past four starts for three wins and a last-start second to Star Casino last Friday night when he was hampered for room in the home straight.
Lewis has driven Petes Honour 39 times for seven wins and seven placings.
Minos has the ability to overcome a wide barrier at No. 7. He has impressed for trainer-reinsman Lindsay Harper, with his five WA starts producing three wins. He is capable of improving considerably from his fading tenth and last placing behind Star Casino over 2536m last Friday night when he settled down in last position, went forward, three wide, after a lap and was kept out wide before eventually getting to the breeze.
Rockandrollartist possesses excellent gate speed, and if Aiden De Campo can get him away speedily and into the early lead his winning prospects will improve considerably.