My Watchlist continues his winning form

The injury plagued My Watchlist (Hes Watching) showed what he is made of when he came with a brilliantly timed burst to take out the main pacing feature at Gloucester Park on Friday evening.

Driven by stand in Stuart McDonald as stable driver Gary Hall Jnr elected to drive the more fancied Better Eclipse, My Watchlist was four back on the rails from his inside second row draw.

The race saw the presence of the highly rated Hugotastic who was backed into a solid favourite with Better Eclipse having strong support as well.

MY WATCHLIST 9 JAN REPLAY

Hugotastic was eased back to a one out sit early on after not showing a great deal of speed. Seizing the moment Hall Jnr whipped around the field on Better Eclipse to take the lead with little effort. Emily Suvaljko realised that with Better Eclipse in front it would be difficult to come from well back so she allowed Hugotastic go around outside the leader.

Better Eclipse and Hugotastic really put the pressure on their rivals running a third quarter of 27.6 seconds but in doing so broke up the field and this allowed My Watchlist to find clear running from his inside position. Despite Better Eclipse holding off Hugotastic, he could not withstand My Watchlist’s withering run and he went down by just over two metres with Hugotastic in third place.

Hugotastic lost no friends with his gallant third placing but he’ll need to pick up in order to have a reasonable in the major features coming up. A Nullabor invitation would obviously depend on how well he performs in the near future.

Now a seven year old, My Watchlist had five starts in New Zealand for two wins before arriving in stables of Gary Hall Snr some four years ago. Since then he’s raced on just 19 occasions for eight wins including his last four races at Gloucester Park. His limited racing has been due to his troublesome feet.

McDonald who’s been associated with My Watchlist on and off while in Australia reflected on the gelding.

It’s been frustrating. From day one we have known how good he was. It’s just a matter of getting him sound and 100 per cent right so that he can show it.

It’s funny you get them winning one or two in a row and they don’t stop winning. He’ll suit this tougher grade especially if he’s driven like that. Obviously he’s got to have luck but he’s certainly got the ability to go with it.

Probably in a few months time (he could make the grade) at the moment leading or sitting up is going to be his best go. He’ll get better he hasn’t had a lot of starts. He takes a while to get used to this caper against the better horses. He’s certainly introduced to it pretty well.

From about the 1000 metres onwards I was looking to pick on someone to push or get out underneath. In the end I didn’t even have to wait until the top of the straight to move out anyone

It worked out pretty well. I thought at the 400 all I needed was a clear run to win.

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink