Mister Smartee NZ Photo by Pacepix
Gary Hall Snr heads towards the WA Pacing Cup with plenty of lives hopes, and this Friday he tackles the $100,000 James Brennan Memorial with four runners contesting the Group 2.
Unbeaten this time in, Mister Smartee NZ has made it six in a row this season as he makes his way towards the WA Pacing Cup in just four week’s time, but Hall Snr knows he will have to win or run a place this week to get into the top 12 ratings, with the four-year-old currently sitting at 14.
“I think he should be favourite for the Pacing Cup and he will probably win.” Hall Snr said boldly
In an interview in recent months, Hall Snr was confident in his comments stating “I reckon Mister Smartee is potentially my best prospect in 10 years since Quinny retired.”
“He’s a really good horse, top class, he’s a bit immature, a four-year-old in free-for-all, he’s only had 13 or 14 starts, but that’s the only negative with it, he’s equally as good as any free-for-all (horse) I’ve had other than Quinny, I suppose.”
Going into Friday night’s race as confident as he can be with the good barrier draw for Mister Smartee NZ, Hall does expect to lead with the four-year-old but in his words “It depends what Chris Voak has planned for me.” With the Voak trained Sangue Reale drawn barrier one.
The three stablemates, Jumpingjackmac, Wildwest and Diego all resume this Friday night in the feature, with Hall Snr going into the James Brennan Memorial with a very strong hand.
“Three of the will probably be a bit underdone (Jumpingjackmac NZ, Wildwest NZ and Diego NZ), they’re first up and 2600m, it will find them out a little bit, Jumpingjackmac would be the best chance of those three, he’s working the best.” Hall Snr said
Ashleigh Paikos
