16 November 2017 | Ken Casellas
Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr has had the favourite in the past four runnings of the Pat Cranley Memorial Pace, but only one Soho Jackman has been successful. Now he has high hopes that Run Oneover will prove too speedy for his seven rivals in the $25,000 1730m sprint at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Hall has three runners, Run Oneover, Ideal Alice and American Boy engaged in this year’s Cranley Memorial and star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr has given punters an important lead by opting to handle Run Oneover, who has been unplaced at his past five starts.
Run Oneover has been restrained at the start from the No. 5 barrier at three of his past four outings, and in the other start, last Friday night, he began from the back line and raced at the rear before running home, out three wide, in the final circuit to finish seventh behind stablemate and pacemaker American Boy over 2130m.
Hall Snr said that his initial thoughts would be to change tactics in an attempt to get to an early lead from the No. 5 barrier. “I think that is his best go,” he said. “Trying to settle him in recent starts hasn’t worked. So, he’ll come out really hard this week and, hopefully, he can lead. If he does, he’ll go close.”
Run Oneover, a New Zealand-bred six-year-old who has had 65 starts for 18 wins and 27 placings for earnings of $441,451, gave a sample of his frontrunning ability when he set the pace from barrier three and won a 2100m heat of the Inter Dominion championship at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park 12 months ago, rating 1.53.8.
He has won at three of his eight races over 1730m and has set the pace in winning at nine of his 15 successes in Western Australia.
The Hall stable has won the Cranley Sprint twice — with El Padrino (2012) and Soho Jackman (2014), both driven by Hall Jnr. The Halls finished third with Im Themightyquinn (evens) in 2008, third with My Jasami (20/1) in 2011, fifth with The Ragpickers Dream (6/4) in 2013, second with Crusader Banner (7/2) in 2014, third with Scuba Steve (2/1) in 2015 and fourth with Cyamach (evens) last year.
Ideal Alice (Kim Prentice) and American Boy (Nathan Turvey) will need luck from wide barriers, seven and eight, respectively, on Friday night. However, if there is a spirited battle for the lead in the first lap and the pace is fast, both pacers could come into strong contention.
Run Oneover looks set to vie for favouritism with Blythewood trainer Michael Brennan’s smart, lightly-raced six-year-old Rub Of The Green, who will be driven by Michael Grantham from the prized No. 1 barrier.
Rub Of The Green’s past six outings have been in stands (for two wins). However, he is also a capable mobile performer and good frontrunner who won three group events at Gloucester Park last year, all when he started from the No. 1 barrier and set the pace. Those wins were in the Higgins Memorial, the Binshaw Classic and the Christmas Gift.
Brennan will also be represented in Friday night’s feature event by Ona Happy Note, who will be driven by Aiden de Campo from the No. 2 barrier. However, the eight-year-old will be at liberal odds after managing only two third placings from his past 25 starts.
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