Best Friend wins but quirkiness a puzzler for Hall
Best Friend got the job done at short odds in the La Colline Handicap (1,600m), but even his biggest fans walked away scratching their heads on how well he did it.
Best Friend (Brett Prebble) has managed to attract a boom reputation since joining the David Hall yard in the second half of last season, but was beaten at odds-on first-up for the term, and yesterday's neck victory had a few nervous moments attached during the run as well as in the finish.
'He's a funny horse, a real character,' said Prebble, who completed a double.
'He doesn't like other horses much and he definitely doesn't fancy it much in between them and I had to give him one or two at halfway with the stick to help him focus.
'But I also think that his breeding is coming out and he wants further than 1,600m and a better pace than we got today. I think if you threw him in a fast-paced 1,800m, you might see him more like the horse that everyone expects him to be.
'But having said that, he's getting up the ratings now to a point where he has to let go of his tricks - he's got away with doing a few things wrong until now but he won't as the races get tougher.'
Hall said he might have to consider a change of gear for Best Friend to try to make him more focused in his races.
'Perhaps we'll look at a hood - I'll have to think about it,' Hall said. 'There's no doubt that when things get tight he doesn't enjoy it much. But he's finished off well again today - he really had some momentum up at the end and the leaders have run home in under 22 seconds, so he had to be motoring to win.'
Hall said programming would have a lot to do with what Best Friend tackles next. 'Where he goes is a query,' he said. 'Perhaps 1,600m again and hope for more speed, or perhaps we'll go up in trip. We have to see what there is available.'
Prebble's day was full of quirky horses, with his earlier winner, Glenealy Elite for Dennis Yip Chor-hong, having had a full curriculum of tricks as a three-year-old last term, but he broke his maiden narrowly yesterday better for the experience.
'He is quite awkward and he has a head carriage that makes him a bit difficult to ride because his head comes right back in your face,' Prebble said.
'He was doing plenty wrong in his races last season and we took him back to the trials for education and his second trial this season was especially good for him - getting him in behind, holding him up and then really making him attack a gap.'
