 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2001
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
2001 NRM SIRES' STAKES 2YO TROTTERS CHAMPIONSHIP
Tony H scooted home along the passing lane to down hotpot Jo Anne and win the $20,000 NRM Sires' Stakes 2yo Trotters Championship. Not only did Tony H give Jo Anne her second taste of defeat, he also wiped a second and a half off her older brother Dependable's national record by trotting the 1950m mobile journey in a quick 2:27.1
The whole race had an eerie deja vu feel to it, because just four weeks earlier the blue and white silks of Balle and his training partner Ian Small were seen coming from exactly the same position when Sunease flew home to grab Castleton's Mission in the shadows of the post. He too was considered by most to be 'a certainty' that night.
"You had to respect Jo Anne, but I never considered her to be a past-the-post," driver Mark Jones said afterwards. "Tony H broke early the week before, but he did trot home nicely after that and I always thought we would be a show if we led early and trailed. This horse has got a lovely attitude," he said.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 09May01