Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
New Zealand-bred five-year-old Euphoria is wonderfully consistent but is a pacer with an apparent aversion to winning.
Finally, his owners, trainer Gary Hall Snr and reinsman Gary Hall Jnr were rewarded for their patience when he broke through for an overdue success — and ended a losing sequence of 20 when he led and scored a smart victory in the 2130m Williams Racing Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
With four seconds and a third from his previous five appearances Euphoria was the $7.80 second fancy from the No. 5 barrier, with the nine-year-old polemarker Fanci A Dance the hot $1.34 favourite, despite a losing run of 16.
Euphoria began speedily and burst straight to the front, and after a slow lead time of 38sec. Chris Voak moved Fanci A Dance off the pegs and into the breeze. Following an opening quarter of 31.1sec. the final 400m sections were covered in 29.4sec., 27.6sec. and 28.9sec. and Euphoria kept Fanci A Dance at bay and won by a length from the favourite, rating 1.57.1.
“I didn’t think he could win,” said Hall Jnr. “And that was because I couldn’t see him crossing to the front. But Euphoria was really keen on the gate, so we tried our luck and came up trumps. Regarding his losing sequence, I reckon he could have won 15 of those runs if he had stuck his head out. However, he has been very consistent and is a horse you would love to own.”
Euphoria, by American Ideal, has raced 46 times for the Hall stable in WA for eleven wins, 17 seconds and five thirds. He notched two seconds from eight New Zealand starts, and now has earned $130,805.