Bow to master in Royal Dad
MASTER OF HALL, the gelding who was touted as a ‘derby horse’ after romping home on debut late May and narrowly losing to ROYAL AVIATOR two and a half weeks later, but missed the big event with an injury, gets a chance to live up to his hype tomorrow, tackling non-winners-of-three in the Royal Dad Trophy at nine furlongs and 25 yards.
It has been a mixed bag for MASTER OF HALL since losing by a length to ROYAL AVIATOR, going two turns, on June 9. In addition to reasonable speculation that he would have missed the June 30 derby on earnings, MASTER OF HALL came out of his June 9 loss with an injury that kept him sidelined for a little over two months.
When he returned on August 18, the Emperor Hall-Noassemblyrequired offspring was installed a 1-2 favourite to put away a field, which included GIFT OF LAW, who he had beaten by almost nine lengths when second to ROYAL AVIATOR.
However, MASTER OF HALL broke slow and was used up by Gary Richards to get into the pace. He got into a duel with stablemate EMPRESS NICOLE, a 99-1 outsider, from the half-mile and surprisingly found nothing up the lane.
NOW FACES BETTER OPPOSITION
Though he set the record straight in his next race, running away from JACKO LINKS and company at a mile on September 1, MASTER OF HALL now faces better opposition such as the filly AZARIA, who became a revelation after being stretched out midway the classic season – fifth in the derby and fourth in the St Leger.
In addition to the improved filly AZARIA, Richard Azan’s AXLE ROD and ANNA LISA will also get the distance, especially having all produced decent efforts in their last outings.
MASTER OF HALL, however, has shown that he has some class about him. He should be able to beat the two fillies and AXLE ROD, who lost to AZARIA by a head in 2:00.3, at nine furlongs and 25 yards, the same day he went down by a head to ROYAL AVIATOR in 1:58.4 – a difference of almost two seconds.
MASTER OF HALL beating JACKO LINKS might not be much to shout about. However, the final time at a mile, 1:40.3, was franked by the runner-up, who returned to comfortably beat ELAL and LORD ASHTON in his very next race at seven and a half furlongs.
Trainer Fitzroy Glispie has tightened the screws at exercise since MASTER OF HALL’s win, 1:08.2 for five and a half, followed by six furlongs in 1:15.1, upside FRANCIA’S PRIDE a week later. FRANCIA’S PRIDE afterwards ran her best race in moons, going down by three lengths to DONTAE in last Wednesday’s Kenneth Mattis Memorial at 10 furlongs.