Friday night saw the biggest pacing feature of the weekend play out, the $125 000 Group 1 Find 30 Australian Pacing Championship at Gloucester Park, which was won by champion seven-year-old Has The Answers.
Legacy Of Power gelding, the Tony Svilicich-trained Has The Answers ($3.80) lead from the early stages of the race, easily beating home the short-priced favourite, the Gary Hall-trained Im Themightyquinn ($2.60) by 5.6m with another of Hall’s runners Alzona ($17.10) finishing off the trifecta just a nose back from his stablemate.
The remainder of Hall’s contingent, Talk To Me Courage and Indian Giver finished fifth and ninth respectively as the prolific trainer along with his son missed out on their sixth APC victory in eight years.
Has The Answers was driven by star reinsman Chris Lewis, giving the driver his third win in the event, his first Australian Pacing Championship victory since 1987 with Village Kid.
The winner ran a sensational mile rate of 1:56.5, the fastest Australian Pacing Championship time since the race began in 1976.
The winning pacer, who now boasts 27 wins from his 104 career starts, will next compete in the $400 000 WA Pacing Cup at Gloucester Park Friday week as trainer Svilicich aims for back-to-back WA Cup success following his win last year with Mysta Magical Mach.
The other big race of the night was the $50 000 Group 2 Nights of Thunder, which was won by six-year-old Scan Air just a neck ahead of the pre-race favourite Scruncher.
2010 Australian Pacing Championship Final Results:
Placing |
Horse |
Prizemoney |
Row & Br. |
Trainer |
Driver |
Margin (m) |
| 1 |
HAS THE ANSWERS |
$85 000 | Fr5 | T Svilicich | A C Lewis | - |
| 2 |
IM THEMIGHTYQUINN |
$21 500 | Fr4 | G E Hall Snr | G E Hall Jnr | 5.60 |
| 3 |
ALZONA |
$11 000 | Fr1 | G E Hall Snr | S J Cramp | 5.60 |
| 4 |
SCHINZIG BULLER |
$5 000 | Fr6 | R P Bell | R P Bell | 10.70 |
| 5 |
TALK TO ME COURAGE (NZ) |
$2 500 | Sr1 | G E Hall Snr | K N Prentice | 10.90 |
| 6 |
TEE PEE VILLAGE (NZ) |
- | Sr2 | J R Graham | K K Howson | 14.10 |
| 7 |
REPORT FOR DUTY (NZ) |
- | Fr2 | G F Bond | C D Brown | 17.70 |
| 8 |
SNEAKYN DOWN UNDER (NZ) |
- | Fr7 | D W Duffy | G J Kersley | 17.90 |
| 9 |
INDIAN GIVER (NZ) |
- | Fr8 | G E Hall Snr | J K Prentice | 19.20 |
| 10 |
OUR MALABAR (NZ) |
- | Fr9 | R J Mellsop | R J Mellsop | 21.40 |
| 11 |
BONAVISTA BAY |
- | Sr3 | M G Reed | M B Reed | 21.50 |
| 12 |
HY ROYALE |
- | Fr3 | K Schreyvogel | C M Brew | 22.10 |