Hilltown Yankee takes on the best of his age in the Redwood
14 July 2012 - Shane Hall will notch up the biggest win of his training career if Hilltown Yankee can win tomorrow’s Group One Redwood Classic at Maryborough.
It’ll be a tough challenge for Sedgwick-based Hall, who will need his stable star to beat hot favourite Blitzthemcalder to take honours in the two-year-old feature race. With $50,000 prizemoney up for grabs, there’ll be no favours for any horse in tomorrow’s stand-start race. The general consensus from form analysts is there are three possible scenarios in the Redwood. The first is that Blitzthemcalder, trained by Ross Payne at Lara, will get away OK from the tapes and prove too good. The second is that Blitzthemcalder breaks stride at some stage, drifts back in the field and comes around them in the last lap to win in a close finish. The third option, and the one that Hall is hoping for, is scenario two, but with Hilltown Yankee holding off the favourite in a gutsy home-straight duel. Hall accepts Blitzthemcalder has shown more on the track than his gelding, but is hopeful the experience of Strathfieldsaye reinsman Daryl Douglas can give him the edge tomorrow. “We are well drawn out of three on the stand-start and if anyone is going to find the line, it’s Daryl,” Hall said. “Chris Alford has driven my horse three times for three wins, but he will drive Blitzthemcalder.” Hall said he would tell Douglas to make up his own tactics, knowing a lot can happen quickly in a stand-start trotting event. “I’m sure there will be six or seven horses trying to find the front so I’ll leave it up to Daryl,” he said. A win today would be Hall’s first Group victory. The part-time trainer only has a couple of trotters at any time and floats them to Sedgwick trainer Ross Graham’s property to work them. “I get up at 4am and drive to work (at Kyneton), finish at 1pm and then take the horses to Ross’s in the afternoon,” Hall said. The trainer said he had a feeling Hilltown Yankee would be a handy trotter after Graham spoke highly of him as a youngster. “Ross doesn’t say much, but when he does you tend to listen. And he said early on that he thought this one would be a nice horse.” There are 11 races on the program at Maryborough and club secretary Les Chapman said he was expecting about 3000 people to turn up for what was the club’s “grand final day”. “The fields are terrific, so hopefully, the weather holds off and we have a big crowd,” he said. - Matt Nicholls (Bendigo Advertiser).
It’ll be a tough challenge for Sedgwick-based Hall, who will need his stable star to beat hot favourite Blitzthemcalder to take honours in the two-year-old feature race. With $50,000 prizemoney up for grabs, there’ll be no favours for any horse in tomorrow’s stand-start race. The general consensus from form analysts is there are three possible scenarios in the Redwood. The first is that Blitzthemcalder, trained by Ross Payne at Lara, will get away OK from the tapes and prove too good. The second is that Blitzthemcalder breaks stride at some stage, drifts back in the field and comes around them in the last lap to win in a close finish. The third option, and the one that Hall is hoping for, is scenario two, but with Hilltown Yankee holding off the favourite in a gutsy home-straight duel. Hall accepts Blitzthemcalder has shown more on the track than his gelding, but is hopeful the experience of Strathfieldsaye reinsman Daryl Douglas can give him the edge tomorrow. “We are well drawn out of three on the stand-start and if anyone is going to find the line, it’s Daryl,” Hall said. “Chris Alford has driven my horse three times for three wins, but he will drive Blitzthemcalder.” Hall said he would tell Douglas to make up his own tactics, knowing a lot can happen quickly in a stand-start trotting event. “I’m sure there will be six or seven horses trying to find the front so I’ll leave it up to Daryl,” he said. A win today would be Hall’s first Group victory. The part-time trainer only has a couple of trotters at any time and floats them to Sedgwick trainer Ross Graham’s property to work them. “I get up at 4am and drive to work (at Kyneton), finish at 1pm and then take the horses to Ross’s in the afternoon,” Hall said. The trainer said he had a feeling Hilltown Yankee would be a handy trotter after Graham spoke highly of him as a youngster. “Ross doesn’t say much, but when he does you tend to listen. And he said early on that he thought this one would be a nice horse.” There are 11 races on the program at Maryborough and club secretary Les Chapman said he was expecting about 3000 people to turn up for what was the club’s “grand final day”. “The fields are terrific, so hopefully, the weather holds off and we have a big crowd,” he said. - Matt Nicholls (Bendigo Advertiser).
