‘Hellova horse’ on street of dreams
TASMANIA’S reigning horse of the year, Hellova Street, gave his trainer, Scot Brunton, one of his biggest thrills in racing when the gelding scored an impressive win at Flemington yesterday.
Winning any race on a metropolitan track in Melbourne is a great feat, but to win a Group race during the Spring Racing Carnival at Melbourne’s racing headquarters is the ultimate.
Hellova Street gave his rivals a galloping lesson by leading throughout to win the $200,000 Group 3 TCL TV Stakes over 1400m, defeating Supply and Demand from the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable, with the Tony McEvoy-trained Fox Hall third.
“This horse is very well named because he is one hell of a horse,” Brunton said.
“He has taken all of us on an incredible ride and I’m rapt for all of his owners. It took a long time for most people to recognise just how good this horse is but it was there for all the world to see today.
“He’s won $850,000 in stakes and he’s a long way from retirement. You hope people notice the hard work that goes into it. I do a lot of the thinking, but a lot of people do the hard yards.
“They do a great job. It’s hard enough getting a horse to the races let alone winning it, so they deserve a lot of the credit. My partner Teagan Keys treats this horse like a family member and she does just about everything with him so a lot of the credit has to go to her.”
Hellova Street missed his entire five-year-old season, which is one of the reasons he has only had 33 starts, but his record of 15 wins and a dozen minor placings is testament to his ability.
Brunton says the aim is to try to place the seven-year-old gelding in races that will enable him to amass $1 million in prizemoney.
“If ever there was a horse se that deserves to go out of racing having won over $1 million, it is Hellova Street. So, that’s our goal.
“I’ve nominated him for r the Newmarket Handicap [$100,000] in Launceston next Wednesday, but I don’t n’t think I will be accepting.
“He will be aimed at four ur weight-for-age races in Tassie ssie over the next three months.” s.”
Hellova Street is a dual winner of the Newmarket Handicap (2015-16) and until ntil last week he held the Launceston 1200m track record.