Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
It was an absolute fluke which led to outstanding Boyanup trainer Justin Prentice winning the $50,000 The West Australian Nights Of Thunder at Gloucester Park on Friday night with the much travelled Jawsoflincoln flying home from a seemingly impossible position on the home turn to snatch a dramatic victory.
Prentice travelled to Melbourne early last year to attend the Melbourne pacing yearling sale where he purchased a filly by Downbytheseaside, and he then received a text message from breeder Mick Lamond, a Mt Gambier butcher.
“I had never met Mick, and he messaged me after the sale to thank me for buying the filly, and he asked if he could have a small share in her,” said Prentice.
“Later in the year he sent me a message, asking how the filly was progressing, and he asked me if I could take Jawsoflincoln. I checked and saw that Jawsoflincoln had earned more than a hundred thousand dollars and had run good times, so I thought that I might as well have a go.”
Jawsoflincoln has been at Prentice’s stables for about four months. “He’d had a decent spell when I got him, and I worked him up as normal,” said Prentice. “The owners asked me if he was on target to run in the Golden Nugget (on December 15) and I told them that the horse wasn’t quite ready.
“It was then that I planned to race Jawsoflincoln in the Nights Of Thunder.”
Good fortune then was again on Prentice’s side. Jawsoflincoln reappeared after a seven-month absence in a heat of the Nights Of Thunder last Friday week when he had a torrid run, racing three wide throughout and battling on to finish sixth behind Rumour Has It.
He scraped into the final field of nine in ninth position with a gross time of 2min. 2.829sec. to edge into the rich final ahead of State Of Heaven (with a time of 2min. 2.908sec.).
“Initially, I was a bit worried about how Jaswoflincoln pulled up after such a hard run,” said Prentice. “But he pulled up really good and ate better this week and was jumping out of his skin this morning.”
Star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr said that his initial plan was to attempt to lead (from barrier six), but eventually he and Prentice decided to race with a sit.
Polemarker Chal Patch, the fastest qualifier and the $2.75 favourite, had to be driven hard to hold the early lead from fast beginners All Is Well and Rumour Has It, while Jawsoflincoln settled nicely in sixth position, one-out and two-back.
After opening quarters of 28.9sec. and 29.7sec. the speed went on with the final 400m sections being run in 27.7sec. and 27.6sec.
Chal Patch, driven by Kyle Symington, led by two lengths approaching the home turn, with Jawsoflincoln easing three wide at the 250m mark and moving to fifth, out four wide, on the home turn.
“I thought the leader was going to win when he kicked strongly and led by a length and a half in the straight,” said Hall. “It was a huge run by Jawsoflincoln, especially with the fast final quarters and coming home, out wide.”
Jawsoflincoln, the $4.10 second favourite, hit the front in the final couple of strides and beat Chal Patch by a half neck, rating 1.53.1 over the 1730m. Tiger Royal ($23), who trailed the pacemaker all the way, finished third.
The victory gave Hall a record fourth Nights Of Thunder victory, following wins with Tealsby Karita (2007), Hokonui Ben (2013) and Benhope Rulz (2019).
Jawsoflincoln, a five-year-old horse by Art Major, is proving quite a bargain for his owners Mick and John Lamond, Stephen Coote, Marty and Timmy Von Stanke, John Little, Anothy Sneath, Justin Cook and Andrew Telford.
For several of the owners this is their first venture into harness racing. Mick Lamond purchased Jawsoflincoln for just $14,000 at the 2020 Sydney yearling sale, and the horse now has earned $139,430 from 17 wins and eight placings from 38 starts. He raced twice in New South Wales for a third placing, eight times in Victoria for a win and two placings and 24 times in South Australia for 15 wins and five placings.
“I have no set plans for Jawsoflincoln,” said Prentice. “I’ll nut out a program for him.”