Champion reinsman Gary Hall jun. is poised to win the Easter Cup for the sixth time by driving star pacer Ohoka Punter to victory in the $40,000 group 3 feature event at Gloucester Park on Thursday night.
The New Zealand-bred Ohoka Punter is the sole backmarker off 50m, but this should prove no impediment to his chances in the 2902m marathon in which he has a massive edge in class over his 11 rivals.
Ohoka Punter, a striking seven-year-old stallion by Bettor's Delight, made an outstanding return to racing after an absence of 24 weeks when he scored an effortless victory over stablemate American Boy, rating 1.55.5 in a 2130m mobile event last Friday night.
Returning to a standing-start event and racing over 2902m will not prove an obstacle to Ohoka Punter, whose past 12 starts have been in mobiles. His most recent appearance in a stand was in the 3280m Hunter Cup at Melton in early February last year.
He led early in the Hunter Cup and then sat behind the pacemaker Smolda before finishing determinedly to be a head second to that star pacer. A week earlier Ohoka Punter contested a 2760m stand at Melton. He raced wide early before setting the pace and winning by one and a half lengths from Star Chamber, with final quarters of 27.8sec. and 27.4sec.
A fortnight before that Ohoka Punter led all the way and won the Shepparton Gold Cup, a stand over 2690m in which he beat Five Star Anvil by a length and rated 1.57, a track record.
The winner of the Victoria Derby at Melton and the Great Northern Derby at Alexandra Park early in 2013, Ohoka Punter has been raced sparingly and has a fine record of 53 starts for 25 wins and 20 placings for earnings of $979,196.
The 34-year-old Hall was delighted with Ohoka Punter’s first-up performance last Friday night and said that the horse was “really exciting at home and does some pretty special things.”
An attack of colic, followed by a lung infection, forced Ohoka Punter to miss the Interdominion championship series at Gloucester Park last November and December, and now trainer Gary Hall sen. has his sights set firmly on the next Interdominion series in Perth late this year.
“It was a real disappointment that he didn’t front up for the Inters,” Hall jun. said. “We thought that he was a really good chance in the series, judged on what he was doing at home.”
The Easter Cup was first run in 1912 (when Goldust was successful at a 2.44 rate) and Hall jun. has won the Cup five times — with The Falcon Strike (off the back mark of 20m) in 2003, Patches (off the back mark of 30m when he dead-heated for first with OK Windermere) in 2006, Uppy Son (10m) in 2012, Rebel Scooter (10m) in 2013 and Znana (off the front) in 2016.
The reinsman with the most wins in the Easter Cup is Chris Lewis, who has been successful six times — with Pallaton (1980), Gold Rowan (1984), Village Kid (1987), Abmidas (1997), OK Windermere (2006) and Lovers Delight (2015).
Lewis will drive the Chris Winston-trained frontmarker Importer Exporter, an experienced standing-start performer and excellent frontrunner, in Thursday night’s Cup. Importer Exporter will start from barrier No. 2 and is likely to be involved in an early battle for the lead with the polemarker Bashful Compton, whose 12 wins in Western Australia have been in stands. Prentice trained and drove Subabrew for his victory in the 2007 Easter Cup.
Leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond will be represented by Assassinator (front) and Galactic Star (10m). Ryan Warwick drove Assassinator for a fighting win in a 2631m stand at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon, but he will be in the sulky behind Galactic Star, who is clearly the stable’s main hope.
Assassinator is a dogged and determined pacer and he will be handled by Ryan Bell.
Galactic Star, a New Zealand-bred four-year-old, is the youngest runner in the race and he looks set for a bright future. He impressed at his latest outing, in the final of the Clarke Pace last Friday week, when he raced wide early and then in the breeze before hitting the front 275m from home and winning easily from Vultan Tin, with a final quarter of 27.5sec.
His past eight starts have been in mobiles, but he is a brilliant standing-start performer, having had five starts in stands in Western Australia for five wins.
Evergreen gelding Shardons Rocket will start off the 30m mark with Kyle Harper in the sulky. The 12-year-old celebrated his 205th start by finishing a head second to Lisharry over 2185m at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon.
Wanneroo trainer Debbie Padberg has two runners, El Machine and Glow Bright, engaged in the Cup, with the eight-year-old El Machine her better prospect. El Machine finished solidly from fifth on the pegs at the bell to be second to American Boy over 1730m last Friday week.
Shannon Suvaljko will drive El Machine and Morgan Woodley will handle Glow Bright, an eight-year-old who finished solidly to be a close last-start second to Maximum Demand. Two starts before that, he won a 2503m stand.
Ken Casellas