Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Giant filly Halle Hunter had no idea how to perform on the training track as a two-year-old last year, and simply wouldn’t try.
And astute Banjup trainer Colin Brown has been extremely patient throughout 2023 to get Halle Hunter to pace and enjoy racing.
Halle Hunter’s first three starts have been in December, and she has scored three convincing victories, showing that she has wonderful ability and the talent to develop into a star four-year-old in 2024.
She was the $2.10 favourite from barrier two in the 2130m Goodbye 2023 Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night when she set the pace and sprinted over the final 400m sections in 28.6sec. and 28.2sec. to win by two lengths from $14 chance Quattrose, rating a smart 1.56.2.
“It was a difficult drive,” said Maddison Brown. “It was all new to her and she was hanging down quite badly. I made sure I got her on the gate early, just to have a look at it, and she handled it well.
As a two-year-old and again for much of this year she was just so big that we had to take our time with her.”
Halle Hunter, who is by American sire Huntsville, was bred and is owned by Trevor Lindsay’s Karnup Racing, and she is the first foal out of former smart mare Bettor Boa, who finished a half-length second to Dodolicious in the WA Oaks in May 2016 and was retired with a record of 53 starts for ten wins, 15 placings and 119,061.
Bettor Boa is a solidly-built mare, but not as big as Halle Hunter, whose first three starts have netted $22,367 in prizemoney, an amount that is sure to be heavily multiplied in the next few years.