HELLOVA SHOT AT A TOP RETURN
BRIGHTON trainer Terry Evans regards his rising five-year-old gelding Hellova Night the best in his stable “by a country mile”.
So when the astute mentor says Hellova Night can win first-up at Elwick on Sunday in a Benchmark 76 handicap, punters will no doubt take note. Hellova Night showed his quality last preparation with two impressive wins at Elwick, and also notched minor placings at five of his other six starts. He won a Class Three at his fourth start last prep and was impressive in taking out a Benchmark 76 two starts later. Both were over 1200m.
He went for a spell after finishing a game second to Galenus in the Royal Rambo on Launceston Cup day.
“I’ve always had a lot of time for this horse and if everything goes to plan, he’ll tackle the Newmarket Handicap and then progress to the weight-forage races, with the Thomas Lyons (1400m) at Elwick his main target,” Evans said.
Hellova Night has been in work for about nine weeks and the trainer says he is fit enough to win first-up.
“The race is over 1100m and his work suggests he’s come on in leaps and bounds this past fortnight,” Evans said
Hellova Night lands in a small field of seven that includes handy sprinter Street Tough and three of his stablemates, Savs Finale, Brinktop Lad and Kuroset, all of which have each-way prospects. Add to the mix former New Zealand mare Bothered, which won in her country of origin before landing in NSW, where she won first-up at Gosford and then led all the way to win at Warwick Farm.
The Sham Express mare arrived at trainer Cameron Thompson’s Cressy stables in December 2000 and had her first start in the state on Devonport Cup day 2021, but she capped her hock in a float mishap and was given a year off to recover.
Bothered has trialled twice leading up to this outing, and Thompson expects her to run a forward race.
One of the more interesting runners at the meeting is Campeo, which lines up in a 1390m maiden (race three). Campeo was bought online by the Richards family and is trained at Roches Beach by Julie Richards.
The former Chris Waller-trained gelding ran fourth at Newcastle (1500m) at his first start for Waller and was then second in a Gosford maiden over 1600m. At his last start for Waller, Campeo was third in a 1600m maiden at Wyong.
PETER STAPLES IS ALSO EMPLOYED BY TASRACING