Hopes and May take both Green Miles
Ricky May might be in for a bit of gentle ribbing from his fellow committee mates of the Methven Trotting Club meeting next month after playing a part in costing the club $4,000 on Sunday.
The champion horseman produced a masterclass on his home track to win both of the day’s features – the Pacers’ and Trotters’ Green Miles breaking track records in the process.
A bonus of $2,000 is given to the winning connections of each race if they can beat the current record for a mile and both A G’s White Socks and Everybody Knows both managed it.
The former was stunning when pacing 1:55 for the mile – bettering the previous mark by more than a second and a half.
‘‘He felt like he could have gone quicker,’’ May said. ‘‘He started goofing off on me up the straight, so he did it quite easily.’’
A rising star of the pacing ranks, A G’s White Socks has been held in high regard by both May and his trainers Greg and Nina Hope for quite some time and went a long way to justifying that on Sunday when holding off a brave James Dean.
‘‘He’s got everything there to be a good one,’’ Greg Hope said. ‘‘He just needs to take that next step up.’’
The big pacer will be on his way to Auckland this week on an experience-gathering mission as he looks toward the four-year-old features later in the season.
‘‘If he goes up there and doesn’t handle it well, he might not race, but the plan at this stage is to have a crack at the Franklin Cup.
‘‘We’ve nominated him for the Auckland Cup but will just see how he goes up there first. This trip is all about the next one to be honest.’’
Joining A G’s White Socks on the trip north will be Everybody Knows.
The diminutive little trotter burst through late to run past Harriet Of Mot in the shadows of the post to win the Trotters’ Green Mile in a time of 1:58.48 – which bettered Quality Invasion’s previous mark of 1:58.6.
‘‘He’s got great speed when he gets the right run,’’ May said. ‘‘We got that today and he burst through when the gap opened up.
“He deserved to win a race like that; he’s been going good all season.’’
May has won with Tennis Ball, Ellmer Hanover and Second Wind while the Hopes have also won with both Glencoe VC and Mossdale Conner in the last 10 years.