Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
Champion reinsman Gary Hall Jnr is in devastating form in the sulky with ten winners in the past week and he has bright prospects of guiding Watching Our Coin to victory in the $30,000 Garrard’s Horse And Hound BOTRA Cup at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Hall holds the record of five winners — Strike A Blow (2002), Spirit Of Shard (2008), Classic American (2015), Naughty Maravu (2016) and The Bucket List (2018) — in the 43-year history of the BOTRA Cup, one of the few remaining standing-start feature events on the WA pacing calendar.
Watching Our Coin, a New Zealand-bred five-year-old, has made a big impression in Western Australia, with his first nine starts in the State producing six wins (the past four in succession) and three placings — all in mobile events.
However, contesting a stand (from the 10m mark) should not be a problem for Watching Our Coin, who raced in twelve stands in New Zealand for one win (on a badly rain-affected track over 2600m at Addington in February 2022) and four placings.
A win by Watching Our Coin would come as a small compensation for the sadness suffered by the gelding’s trainer Michael Young, who lost his stable star Eighteen Carat on Tuesday when she fractured a leg when being driven by Young in a track workout at Byford.
Sadly, the brilliant six-year-old Eighteen Carat could not be saved. She had been a dominant force in feature events for mares in WA where her 19 starts produced ten wins and four placings to boost her career record to 15 wins and ten placings from 57 starts for earnings of $314,726. Her victories included the Group 1 Norms Daughter Classic last November, two at Group 2 level and two in Group 3 races.
“Watching Our Coin is a big chance on Friday night,” said Hall. “With a safe beginning and normal luck, I can’t see him being out of the top three.”
Watching Our Coin’s main rivals appear to be Street Hawk, Chal Patch and Carabao.
Four-year-old Street Hawk will give champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond a great opportunity to win the BOTRA Cup for the third time, following the wins of Fizzing in 2019 and Minstrel in 2021.
Street Hawk, a lightly-raced New Zealand-bred four-year-old, has been set the task of winning first-up after a three-month absence. He will be driven by Deni Roberts from the No. 4 barrier on the 10m line.
Street Hawk, a winner at nine of his 21 starts, gave a sample of his class two starts ago when he galloped at the start and settled down in ninth position before surging forward with a three-wide burst after a lap to race in the breeze and finish second to the frontrunning Hector in the standing-start 2503m Easter Cup on April 7.
Chal Patch, to be driven by Aiden De Campo for Ravenswood trainer Nathan Turvey, has impressed at his three starts (in mobiles) in WA for a first-up second to Mister Ridgewell followed by frontrunning victories by 16.7m at Gloucester Park and 25.2m at Narrogin in modest company.
“Chal Patch goes up in class and I don’t know how he will go,” said Turvey. “He gives the impression that he deserves a chance in this company, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes. He has led at his two wins, but I think he is also quite versatile.”
While Chal Patch is an unknown quality in stands in WA, he is an experienced campaigner in stands in New Zealand with 14 standing-starts producing four wins, a second, three thirds and two fourths. He won at four of his first five appearances in stands (three of them on grass tracks).
Carabao, trained and driven by Chris Voak, is ideally drawn on the inside of the front line, and he will have many admirers after his splendid performance last Friday week when he gave a bold frontrunning performance in a 2503m stand to win easily from Verano and Ardens Horizon after dashing over the final 400m sections in 27.6sec. and 28sec.
“I think he is a good chance,” said Voak. “His times were good last start when he won unextended. He usually gets away smoothly, and he is a good frontrunner in good form. He should set an honest tempo, and hopefully he’s there at the pointy end.”
Beat The Bank is racing keenly for Oakford trainer Phil Duggan and will have admirers after wins from back marks in stands in weaker company at Pinjarra and Bunbury at his past two outings.
A veteran of 19 stands, Beat The Bank began off the 70m mark in a field of six over 2503m at Bunbury on Wednesday afternoon when he made up ground quickly on his rivals and raced in the breeze in the final circuit before easily beating Extraordinary Mary with fast final quarters of 27.6sec. and 28.7sec.
Beat The Bank was driven by Roberts at his latest two runs, but with Roberts committed to handling the brilliant Street Hawk, Mitch Miller was engaged to drive the WA-bred Bettors Delight gelding.