Hall Seeks Five in a Row

Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr has high hopes of winning the $25,000 Owners Only Past Presidents Cup for an unprecedented fifth year in a row when his son Gary drives former star juvenile Lets Chase The Dream in the 2130m event at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Hall won the second running of the Past Presidents Cup with The Falcon Strike in 2006 and has been successful in the past four years with Our Arlington, Soho Highroller, Run Oneover and Beaudiene Boaz.

For good measure, Hall also achieved a rare trifecta result in 2016 when Run Oneover beat stablemates Cyamach and Crusader Banner.

Five-year-old Lets Chase The Dream, awkwardly drawn at barrier No. 7 on the front line, is poised to end a losing sequence of nine after being placed at his three outings since resuming after an absence of just under six months.

Lets Chase The Dream was gallant in defeat over 2130m last Friday night when a close third behind Eagle Rox and Eden Franco. Lets Chase The Dream started from the outside of the back line and settled in tenth position. In a bold move, Hall Jnr sent Lets Chase The Dream forward at the 1200m with a sizzling three-wide burst which carried him to the front with a lap to travel.

Lets Chase The Dream then scorched down the back straight and recorded a dazzling 26.8sec. section before he was overhauled by Eagle Rox and Eden Franco in the final couple of strides.

It was a brilliant and exciting tactic by Hall and one which certainly deserved victory. Hall and Lets Chase The Dream have a great chance to make amends for that unlucky defeat last week by proving too strong in Friday night’s Cup. In his two runs before last week’s race Lets Chase The Dream covered extra ground before finishing a head second to Eagle Rox and a 1m third behind Whozideawasthis.

Looming as the only serious rival for Lets Chase The Dream is the Michael Brennan-trained The Bucket List, who will start from the outside of the back line and is sure to unwind a spirited finishing burst for reinsman Michael Grantham.

The Bucket List was most unlucky when tenth behind Bettors Fire in the 2536m Winter Cup last Friday night. He raced at the rear before surging forward, three wide, to be fifth at the bell. He sustained his effort and had moved into second place before being severely checked 110m from the finish.

At his previous outing, over 2130m a week earlier, The Bucket List enjoyed an ideal passage, one-out and one-back, before finishing determinedly to be a neck second to the pacemaker Bettors Fire.  That followed a fast-finishing third to Bettors Fire a week before that.