Rising star Hectorjayjay possesses dazzling pace, but he is certainly not just a speed machine, according to his driver Josh Aiken.
“Going up from the first two rounds of heats over 2130m and 2100m to 2536m at Gloucester Park on Friday night will not trouble him,” Aiken said.
Hectorjayjay, the only unbeaten runner after the two nights of qualifying heats and a warm favourite for the $1.1 million final of the TABtouch interdominion championship on Friday week, will start from barrier five in the Retravision interdominion qualifying heat No. 7 on Friday night and his clash with John of Arc promises to be a highlight of the ten-event program.
“There’s no doubt that this horse can run a 26sec. flat quarter,” Aiken said. “He’s a pretty quick horse who ran his final quarter in 26.3sec. when he led and won the Swan Hill Cup over 2790m in October.
“He has also run some crazy quarters from back in the field and I’m confident that he can sit off any speed and be quick enough to run past some nice horses.”
Aiken said he was not concerned that Hectorjayjay (trained by his father David) would have to run in a heat over 2536m and the $1.1 million final on Friday week over 2936m.
“We’ve given him two starts over longer trips (in the 2790m Swan Hill Cup and the 2650m Yarra Valley Cup) and he went really well,” Josh Aiken said. “He won very well at Swan Hill and then ran second to Restrepo at Yarra Valley when Restrepo was outstanding on the day.
“I don’t think that the longer distances in his next two runs will worry him too much. He’s grown a bit of strength and has now got a bit more bottom. I’m really looking forward to his next two runs; he should be fitter after his two heat wins. I can’t wait.
“Now, after his Bunbury win (when he led from barrier two and was not extended in winning from Our Jericho and Ultimate Art), it’s all about recovery and refreshing him. He’ll spend time at the beach and have a light jog the day before his race on Friday.”
Favourite at 10/1 on in the fifth qualifying heat at Bunbury on Tuesday night, Hectorjayjay was not troubled to burst straight to the front from barrier two before an easy lead time of 35.4sec. and a slow opening 400m section of the final mile in 31.3sec.
He strolled to victory after a slick final 800m in 53.7sec. and crossed the line more than two lengths ahead of Our Jericho, who had trailed him throughout.
“It was pretty moderate early and then he copped a bit of pressure (from Ultimate Art) through the middle half and was still able to rattle off a 26.6sec. final quarter which was really pleasing,” Aiken said.
“Ultimate Art is a really nice horse and is a big, good-looking horse who is actually quite intimidating. He’s got a lot of presence and so it was quite intimidating to have him up on the outside with two nice horses, Major Crocker and Bettors Fire, on his back. It was all so pleasing to go to the line on the bit and with his plugs in.”
John of Arc, trained by Clive Dalton, is one of the big improvers in the series and he will have admirers from the prized No. 1 barrier in Friday night’s seventh heat. The lightly-raced injury-plagued seven-year-old produced a wonderful effort when second to the fast-finishing Bling It On in the sixth heat on Tuesday night.
He raced three wide early and then in the breeze before surging past the pacemaker Ima Connoisseur and getting to the front 120m from the finish before he was swamped by Bling It On, who had enjoyed a perfect one-out, one-back trail for Luke McCarthy.
This followed John of Arc’s excellent third behind Bettors Fire and Smolda in the second heat last Friday night when he sustained a spirited three-wide burst from sixth at the bell.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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