Ken Casellas | Race Replay
Hall Of Fame reinsmen Chris Lewis and Gary Hall Jnr have between them driven almost eleven thousand winners, and they were seen at their best as they fought out a thrilling finish of the $50,000 John Higgins Memorial over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The photo finish was unable to separate them, and the judge declared a dead-heat between Hall’s drive Major Jay, who had taken a narrow lead 40m from the post, and Onesmartfella, driven by Lewis, who charged home, six wide with a sizzling burst.
For Nathan Turvey, who part-owns and trains Major Jay ($3.90), it was an emotional moment as he revealed this was a feature event he dearly wanted to win in memory of former WA Trotting Association president John Higgins, who died in a road accident in 1994.
“I went to school in Narrogin with John’s daughters, and I was delighted to win tonight, even though it was a dead-heat,” he said.
For Lewis this was a record sixth win in the Higgins Memorial, which was first run in 1995, and nine-year-old Onesmartfella’s victory was a reward for Oakford trainer Jemma Hayman’s patient care after the gelding had broken down with a leg injury in May of last year, a problem which required surgery and the insertion of a screw in a hind fetlock to stabilize the leg.
Remarkably, Major Jay and Onesmartfella almost dead-heated for first place in a qualifying heat at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park on July 19 when the photo finish revealed that Major Jay had held on to win by a half-head from Onesmartfella.
Onesmartfella won four races in New Zealand and two in Victoria, and in his first 64 starts in WA Lewis had driven the gelding only four times for two thirds and two fifth placings. He had not driven Onesmartfella at his 13 starts leading into Friday night’s event.
Interestingly, the dead-heaters were the only New Zealand-bred pacers in Friday night’s field. The other ten runners were bred in WA, with Cee Dee Three the $4.40 favourite. With the dead-heat reducing the price of the winners, Major Day was a $3.90 chance on the tote, and Onesmartfella returned a dividend of $6.80.
Cee Dee Three dashed to an early lead, with Major Jay, from the No. 6 barrier, racing three wide for the first 500m before getting to the breeze and then being hard driven to get to a narrow lead the front about 40m from the post.
Onesmartfella began from barrier two on the back line and he raced in seventh position in the one-wide line before flashing home out wide on the track to dead-heat with Major Jay in a blanket finish.
“I thought I was definitely gone at the top of the straight,” said Hall. “But crossing the line I thought we had done enough to hold on. I didn’t like the way he went anywhere over the final 600m, and he has done a big job to win.”
Lewis said that Onesmartfella had gained “a nice run into the race before getting home good.”
Onesmartfella, owned by Merv and Meg Butterworth, ended a losing sequence of 28, stretching back to his previous victory when he set the pace and beat Sound Wave over 2536m at Gloucester Park on September 19, 2023. Sound Wave ($18) went within centimetres of making the result of Friday night’s race a triple dead-heat after running home strongly from eleventh with a lap to travel.
Onesmartfella has earned $149,967 from 13 wins and 22 placings from 87 starts. Major Jay’s record now stands at 41 starts for seven wins, 18 placings and $80,686 in stakes.
After Major Jay had finished third three times from seven starts in New Zealand he was purchased for $30,000 by Turvey, who then syndicated the Art Major gelding to several stable clients. Major Jay’s 34 WA starts have produced seven wins and 15 placings.