O"HALLORAN KEPT THE "FAITH"
- John Curtis
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Hawkesbury trainer Steve O’Halloran was understandably pleased to score with the Hellbent three-year-old at $19, even if the result wasn’t so popular with punters.
Having only her fourth start and ridden by Mitchell Bell, Rule Of Faith upset fancied pair Sharbino ($3.30 favorite) and Sinister ($3.90) in the Maiden Plate (1400m).
Rule Of Faith is raced by the Stevenson Family; with local breeders Gary and Kay great supporters of O’Halloran’s stable.
“This filly was actually bred by Gary’s brother Kevin, who has a property at Richmond, and they were all at the track to cheer her on,” O’Halloran said before leaving on the trip home.
“Rule Of Faith has had to be managed carefully.
“She had little strength as a two-year-old, and had only two starts at the end of last season.
“I kicked off another campaign with her on the Beaumont track last month, and knew the 1150m was going to be short of her best.
“It was a good starting point to blow out the cobwebs, and getting to a more suitable distance today suited.
“I expected her to run better, but wasn’t confident she could win.
“Mitchell (Bell) gave her a 10 out of 10 ride, and she finished the race off well.
“Obviously it was great to see her win her first race, but I will have to see how she pulls up and monitor her progress.
“She is a little bit stronger, but I might have to give her a little break.”
Whilst it was good news with Rule Of Faith, O’Halloran was disappointed that stable star Mal Coupe (who also races in the Stevenson colours) missed out on trialling at Warwick Farm on Friday.
“Unfortunately he was balloted out of a trial, and that’s particularly disappointing given he won three in a row last campaign, including the last two in town,” he said.
“I had planned to trial him on Friday and then in another fortnight before taking him back to the races.
“Now I’m hoping he will be able to trial at Rosehill Gardens next Tuesday.”
Hawkesbury trainers are on a roll at present, with four winners last Saturday (one at Royal Randwick and three at Kembla Grange) followed up by another two at the Orange meeting.
As well as O’Halloran, Ed Cummings (who scored with the promising Exfortythree at Kembla) also won with another Mitchell Bell mount Flaming Moon.
A clever Bell ride paved the way for Flaming Moon ($2.90 favorite) to easily take the Benchmark 58 Handicap (2100m) to give Cummings his seventh success of the season.
A four-year-old daughter of Too Darn Hot, Flaming Moon appreciated dropping back to country grade and was too good for her rivals.
She had broken through in a 1400m Nowra Plate last February when prepared by Cummings’ father Anthony at Randwick.
Flaming Moon was an $80,000 purchase for Ed Cummings’ Myrtle House as a 2023 Inglis Classic yearling.
