Beaudiene Boaz winning the Harness Jewels in New Zealand
“Without sounding too arrogant I’ve got no doubt that he’s the best horse in the race, but he will have his work cut out from barrier six,” said champion reinsman Gary Hall jun. when assessing the prospects of New Zealand newcomer Beaudiene Boaz in the $125,000 Premier Suzuki Golden Slipper at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“His trial at Byford on Sunday was super, but a two-year-old having his first look at the track will need to do everything that we think he’s capable of to be able to beat Justin Prentice’s filly Major Reality.”
Hall said that the barrier draw had tilted the odds in favour of Major Reality, who is sure to make the most of the coveted No. 1 position by setting the pace in the 2130m group 1 classic.
“The draw really evens things up,” Hall said. “I think Beaudiene Boaz is capable of beating Major Reality, but he will have to prove every bit as good as we think he is. He’s got a bit of everything. He’s definitely very quick and he seems to be quite strong.
“However, there appears to be no chink in Major Reality’s armour. She is such a good gaited horse who seems to do everything right. She has got good gate speed and it’s not likely that she will have to be rushed out to hold the lead. She’ll hold it easy; nothing can really trouble her early and she’ll get a soft lead, and that will make her hard to beat.
“We know that she can run a quarter in 27 and a bit, so we will have to try to take it (the sting) out of her early. However, doing that will probably set it up for something back in the field. I haven’t determined my tactics, but obviously getting to the breeze is the way to go. You can’t win by going back (early).”
Beaudiene Boaz is trained by Gary Hall sen., who is in Brisbane campaigning with superstar Im Themightyquinn. Hall will be attempting to emulate the performance of Oakford trainer Ross Olivieri, who won the 2011 Golden Slipper with Western Cullen at his Australian debut.
Hall jun. drove Beaudiene Boaz in a 2150m trial on Sunday morning when the Badlands Hanover colt sat behind the pacemaker, three-year-old stablemate Crusader Banner before sprinting home strongly to beat that pacer by a length at a 1.58.6 rate after sprinting over the final two 400m sections in 28.3sec. and 28.1sec.
Beaudiene Boaz has won at three of his seven starts in New Zealand for trainer Ray Green. He was sold to clients of the Hall stable after he had given a superb performance to win the $150,000 Emerald for two-year=-old colts and geldings at Cambridge on May 31.
An outsider at 38/1 and driven by Zac Butcher, Beaudiene Boaz was seventh on the pegs at the bell and still in sixth place 400m from home before he charged home, out four wide, to snatch a last-stride victory by a head over Bettor Spirits, covering the metric mile (1609m) in 1.54, track record for two-year-olds.
The 400m sections whizzed by in 27.4sec., 29sec., 28.6sec. and 28.9sec.
Two starts earlier Beaudiene Boaz dashed over the final quarter in 28.2sec. and rated 2.1.8 in winning over 2200m at Alexandra Park.
Hall sen. has won the Slipper only once, when he trained and drove Love of Glory to victory over Possibly and Almagest in 1989. Hall jun. has yet to taste victory in a Golden Slipper. Four years ago he set the pace with 6/4 on favourite Go West U Terror, who finished second to Ohokas Bondy. Then he drove Gracias Para Nada (22/1) into third place behind Western Cullen in 2011,Northview Punter (10/9 on) when he finished a half-head second to Arma Xpress in 2012 and the 6/4 on favourite Crusader Banner when he set the pace before fading to ninth behind Class of Tara last year.
