Hectorjayjay has won the harness racing Garrard’s Sunshine Sprint tonight at Albion Park in a last-minute run from behind that has to be seen to be believed.
The bay gelding spent the vast majority of the race in the back of the field, only making his run for the line at the 400 metre mark sitting five wide.
Hectorjayjay is in the midst of brilliant form, beating his stable mate and Inter Dominion winner Lennytheshark only recently in the Len Smith Mile, and now running down the brilliant Christen Me to take out tonight’s feature race.
Handler and travel companion of Hectorjayjay, Kima Fenning, said she was used to the horse coming from behind but tonight’s late run had her thinking.
“To be honest, I wasn’t too worried at the start of the race because I’ve seen him come from way behind before, but at the 400 mark when he was still second last I thought we were in a bit of trouble,”
“I saw when he came out on the top of the straight, I saw him put in that little extra that he does, but then again I saw Christen Me get a run and I thought “Oh, we might be in trouble here”, but he’s just an amazing horse and he never puts in a bad run, he just always does that little bit extra,” said Fenning.
Harness racing Operations Manager Brett Rail was impressed with the great run and the flow-on effect it has for harness racing.
“It was an outstanding race, and it’s the type of race that brings people back to trotting,”
“To see the son of Dream Away come from the tail of the field in a virtually impossible position to beat horses like Christen Me, who’s probably the best in Australasia, it was an outstanding field and an outstanding race.”
“I think Hectorjayjay is the next one on the block, he’s ready to take over the mantle and become the best horse in Australasia I’m sure,” Rail added.
The 2016 DPMA Queensland Oaks (2138m) was another high-quality race on the cards tonight, with the gutsy three-year-old filly Nek Time (Gotta Go Cullect) working hard to grab the lead early and take home the win in a blistering time of 2 minutes 34.2 seconds.
Brett Rail praised the run and the stunning victory.
“The winner Nek Time was an absolutely outstanding run, she did so much work early and through the run,”
“It was a super-fast time, and the way that horse just kept going it was just an unforgettable race to watch, hopefully she goes on to the Derby for a Picket Fence next week,” Rail added.
The 2016 Garrard’s Gold Coast Derby was the other feature race of the night, and it was always going to be a hard to separate the contenders, all entrants very even on paper.
Both the winner Charlaval and runner-up Stanly Ross Robyn did a great job to grab their win and place, Rail full of praise for the quality three-year-olds.
“It was an outstanding field of three-year-olds, Charlaval from the draw had a good run and was an outstanding winner,”
“There are a number of horses in that race that can easily win the Derby, barrier draws are going to be all important for that one,” said Rail.
The ground-breaking Picket Fence promotion offers trainers and owners the chance to win a share of $111,000 in bonuses if their horse can win three races in a row in Queensland including one of four feature races on Blacks A Fake Night.
At this time the Bill Cosby-trained Slippery Jade is eligible for the two-year-old filly’s bonus, Chris Petroff’s Maestro Bellini is eligible for the two-year-old colt’s and gelding’s bonus, while the Chmiel-trained Nek Time will be in the running for the bonus in the Derby.
Blacks A Fake night will be held next Saturday, July 16.