Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Veteran trainer Kevin Charles was relaxing on holiday in New Zealand when his son Hayden brought Whos The Dad to Gloucester Park on Friday night to contest the final event, the $20,250 Nova 93.7 Pace.
“I hope this will give him some extra spending money,” said Hayden Charles after Shannon Suvaljko had scored a smart win with the $3.80 chance Whos The Dad.
Kevin Charles bred and owns Whos The Dad in partnership with his wife Annette, and the four-year-old has been a good earner for the family, with his 44 starts producing nine wins, 11 placings and $92,397.
Whos the Dad began speedily from barrier five but was unable to cross the flying polemarker Vintage Blu ($7.50) who recorded a scorching lead time of 35.2sec. With Vintage Blu going so fast early, the field was spread out and Suvaljko was able to gain the third spot in the Indian file affair.
Whos the Dad took the lead 240m from home and went on to win by a length from the $3.60 favourite Carabao, who had trailed the leader all the way.
Thirty-five minutes before Whos The Dad’s victory, Harden Charles drove Have Ago Joe (trained by his father), but the six-year-old had to be retired from the race after the off-side hopple connecting strap broke.