Because at Alexandra Park the trotter, who has so often lived up to his name, gave the Waikato trainer his greatest moment in harness racing on Friday.
CRAZY REPEAT
A $35,000 Dunstan Feeds Metro final may not sound like the biggest deal of the race weekend, but it will put a smile on your face if you train just a handful of horses in the morning and shoe them in the afternoon, as Hall does.
To add to the fun, Hall also rode Crazy, so it was both his greatest training and his greatest success in riding.
He earned it the hard way, with Crazy showing tremendous potential early in his career, but then having his wilderness years when he identified as a thoroughbred and acted accordingly during the races.
“But he has always been able to run and that’s why I stuck with him,” says the 40-year-old Hall.
“I mean, there are plenty of well-mannered horses that are slow and you can’t do much with them, but I knew he had the ability.”
So how did Hall get Crazy to not live up to its name?
“I figured out a few tries ago to get him in a mobile and as soon as they call them, put his nose on the mobile arm and then not move,” Hall laughs.
“If you do that and don’t touch it, it will follow the mobile arm out and after twenty yards you’re as good as gold.”
This new, well-behaved Crazy trotted in both his heat and the Metro Series final at 2:45 on Friday evening, helped by big favorite Look To Da Stars who galloped this week, but they are still good trotting times.
“I only started riding him because Zachary[Butcher]who usually rides him, was down south for a week and Nicky Chilcott had no other rides at Alexandra Park and I couldn’t ask her to go up just to ride him.[Butcher}whousuallydriveshimwasawaydownsouthoneweekandNickyChilcottdidn’thaveanyotherdrivesatAlexandraParkandIcouldn’taskhertogoupjusttodrivehim[Butcher}whousuallydriveshimwasawaydownsouthoneweekandNickyChilcottdidn’thaveanyotherdrivesatAlexandraParkandIcouldn’taskhertogoupjusttodrivehim
“So I thought that instead of explaining him to someone else, I would have a problem myself.”
That means Hall can also ride Crazy in the Golden Gait Final in two weeks, with the added bonus of being eligible for the lower trot that evening.
However, Hall had to share the honors with southern driver Sam Ottley that evening when she came north to compete in one feature race and won two, the first time she had a double at The Park.
She flew to Auckland to partner Francent in the Caducues Club Breeders Stakes and the Mark Jones-trained mare was a “no excuses” winner from Arafura after parking outside the favourite.
“She hung around a bit, which she can do in the south, but at the top of the straight I started to think I was going better than Arafura, which was a nice surprise,” said Ottley.
Francent is clearly a good mare who is improving and although she will face tougher opposition in next week’s G1 Queen of Hearts Final, she has not yet found her ceiling.
The trip north gave Ottley the chance to also jump on Beta Prepare for good buddy and trainer Arna Donnelly when she needed a catch driver in the Franklin Country Cup.
“It’s really cool to get a winner for Arna here, because she supports me so much.”
The double takes Ottley to 899 career victories and she heads to her old home track in Orari on Saturday in the hope of bringing up the 900 mark there.
Earlier in the evening, Tony Cameron continued his great partnership with American Muscle by taking out the Queen Of Diamonds Prelude and Brooke Wilkins got her drive perfect on Arden’s Memory to win the Metro Pacing Final.
For full race results, click here
Through Michael Guerinfor Harness Racing New Zealand
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