Winning Combo; father/son team of Gary Hall Snr. and Jnr. celebrate another feature victory.
Champion pacer Im Themightyquinn destroyed his rivals with a sonic-like sprint to win tonight's (Friday) Gr.1 $250,000 Yes Loans Fremantle Cup at Gloucester Park.
Im Themightyquinn ($2.20 Fav.) thrashed Kiwi raider Raglan ($21.90) by 14 metres with a further 5 metres back to Lombo Navigator ($96.90) in third while carving out a race record time of 1;56.5 for the 2906m feature.
The well fancied Mr Feelgood ($3.20) turned in another sub-standard performance finishing a well beaten fifth, some 25m behind the runaway winner.
The Gary Hall trained gelding created history by becoming the first horse to win the Cup three times, Hall has now trained the Cup winner five times with The Falcon Strike successful in 2002 and 2004.
Veteran warhorse Has The Answers burned the gate early and led easily with Crombie racing in the trail while Mr Feelgood raced without cover.
Dasher VC maintained a strong early tempo by pushing forward three-wide before obtaining the position on the outside of the leader.
With a furious tempo being set up front, Hall Jnr. managed to steer Im Themightyquinn away from the marker line and land a nice position in the moving line.
The lead time was covered in 93.9 seconds.
Driver John McCarthy was the first to pull three-wide and start a move wide on the track but was left out there after rival reinsman Chris Lewis kicked up with Dasher VC with over a mile left to run.
The first quarter was run in 29.3 seconds before they eased slightly with the second split registered in 30.2 seconds.
Entering the back straight for the final time, the pressure was immense with Has The Answers, Dasher VC and Washakie still maintaining a line of three while Im Themightyquinn joined the three-wide train.
Hall Jnr. allowed Im Themightyquinn to stride four-wide heading down the back straight and the acceleration left his rivals numb as he quickly put the race beyond doubt.
The third quarter was covered in 29.4 seconds.
Approaching the home turn, Im Themightyquinn was set for victory while Raglan, Lombo Navigator and Washakie all battled for the minor prizes.
Im Themightyquinn cruised to the line in a final section of 27.6 seconds.
“That was unbelievable, he's an absolute champion.” Trainer Gary Hall beamed after the race.
The defending Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Final champion has set two track records in two weeks after returning from his flop in the Victoria Cup on December 17.
“He never ceases to amaze me this horse, that was scary good what he just did tonight.
“As per normal, Jnr. just drove him centre-metre perfect and it was poetry in motion over the final stages.
“Two races down but there is still one big target left for the summer and that race is the most important, the date is March 2.”
Bookmaker's are likely to move Im Themightyquinn to outright favourite for the V75 Inter Dominion Pacing Championship starting on February 17 at Gloucester Park after his brilliant victory tonight.
Im Themightyquinn now moves to outright second on the Grand Circuit leader board with 11 points, still well behind arch rival Smoken Up who has 24 points.
