Speediness on the outside and Hi Belle the inner, work strongly to the line at Pakenham on Tuesday morning. 76485 Pictures: Stewart Chambers
– David Nagel
IT’S an unseasonably chilly and wet summer’s morning at Pakenham Racecourse on Tuesday, almost a mist hovers over the track. The caravan selling coffee stands out like a beacon as a steady stream of thoroughbred’s thunder down the track trying to reach peak fitness.
For two local trainers in particular, John Gunning and Colin Scott, it’s a chance to give their stable stars, Hi Belle and Speediness, a quality hit out against each other as they prepare for lucrative campaigns that could see the two clash later in the summer or early autumn.
Scott and Speediness head to Sale this Sunday for a first up tilt at the $75,000 Sale Quality while Gunning and his five-year-old mare race six days later in a 1200m Group 3 at Caulfield.
“Hey Col, where are ya mate,” Gunning yells down two rows of stalls as Pakenham’s two finest horses prepare to match motors.
“What are we doin’ here John,” trackwork jockey Ted says as he mounts the mare.
“Five and two, but whatever you do don’t turn it into a race, if they (Speediness) turn it into a race you stay back alright,” Gunning instructs. As Gunning watches Hi Belle hit the track he explains his handling of the mare since her last start win at Sandown in mid-November.
“I put her out for five weeks and she put on 48 kilos, so she had a really good spell,” Gunning says as he walks to the grandstand to watch the gallop. “She’s been in work for seven weeks now so she’s almost ready.”
Hi Belle’s last four starts have reaped two listed races, a Bairnsdale Cup and a second in a Group Three at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day. Gunning is hoping for a return to that form this time around.
“We’ll let her tell us how good she’s come back,” he said. “Vlad Duric rode her for me in some exercise recently and he was really impressed, he said she hasn’t lost anything.
“She really has got an aura about her now, I think she knows she’s pretty good and her whole attitude has changed.
“It’s going to be harder for her now though, she’ll get more weight so we might have to look at weight for age races. It’d be lovely to say you’ve had a horse that measures up to Group One level. “It’s up to her now.”
Gunning sits in the stand with, amongst others, Speediness’ owner Ed Thomas and the two watch intently as their horses hit the line locked together, running 24.7 for the last 400 on a heavy track.
There’s mutual respect here but Thomas can’t help but have a quick dig.
“I think we got ya by half a length John,” Thomas says cheekily as they walk back to the stalls.
But Gunning’s reply summed things up perfectly.
“Yeah, but you don’t get paid here do ya?”
