Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
Gary Hall junior’s legion of fans cashed in at Gloucester Park on Friday night when the champion reinsman drove the first four winners on the program, with the quadrella returning a dividend of $50.70.
His fourth consecutive winner was the $1.10 favourite Finvarra, who began from the No.1 barrier and led throughout before holding on to beat his stablemate and $8 second fancy Prince Of Pleasure by a half-head.
This followed victories with Watching Our Coin ($4.60), Kimble ($5.60) and The Mustang ($1.10).
Finvarra’s victory followed two seconds behind Prince Of Pleasure and a last-start second to Himself, and it boosted his record to 30 starts for 13 wins, 12 placings and $261,201 in prizemoney. He sprinted strongly over the final 400m sections in 28.5sec. and 27.3sec. and rated 1.56.9 over 2130m.
“Finvarra was good, and I never felt he was in danger of being beaten, although it was a bit close for comfort. He was hanging a bit worse than normal.”
Finvarra is likely to run in feature events in the coming weeks, including the $50,000 Winter Cup on July 28, before having a spell and then being prepared for the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup over 2536m on November 10.