Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
Unheralded New Zealand import Watching Our Coin has exceeded all expectations, and now his trainer Michael Young is daring to dream with thoughts of the five-year-old contesting the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup on November 10.
Young threw Watching Our Coin into the deep end by starting him out of his class in the $31,000 Catalano Free-For-All at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he delivered the goods by producing yet another strong fighting effort.
Watching Our Coin was the $1.90 favourite from the No. 3 barrier. Gary Hall jnr sent him straight to the front and rated him perfectly to score victory by a half neck from the talented Tenzing Bromac ($7), with the $3.50 second fancy Prince Of Pleasure a half-head away in third place.
Watching Our Coin was able to get away with a slow lead time of 39.2sec. and a modest opening quarter of 30.4sec. before zipping over the final three 400m sections in 28.7sec., 27.7sec. and 28.2sec. to rate 1.56.5 over the 2130m journey.
“I pulled up more tired than the horse,” said Hall. “I had to start urging him just before the bell when I wanted to get a bit of a break on Tenzing Bromac (in the breeze).”
Young was delighted with Watching Our Coin’s performance, saying: “He is a very uninspiring animal. But you definitely can’t fault what he does. He just keeps getting the job done. I’d love to see him keep going and push for a spot in the Pacing Cup. At this stage he probably will run in the Marathon Handicap next Friday night. And after that there’s the Binshaw Classic.
“He is still five wins away from actually being a Free-For-Aller. I started him in tonight’s Free-For-All because there were no other races for him. It was all about the draw tonight: If Tenzing Bromac had drawn inside of him, he would have won. We got the draw and took advantage of it. It’s good to know that he can take advantage of a good draw against good horses.”
Watching Our Coin raced 28 times in New Zealand for one win and eight placings for $21,124 in prizemoney. He has been a revelation in Western Australia, with his twelve starts for Young producing eight wins, three seconds and one third placing for stakes of $90,040.
“He was not a particularly expensive buy,” said Young. “He was probably a little more expensive than you would think for a one-win from a 30-odd start horse.”