Big Jack Hammer faces a tough ask to continue his Group 1 winning form against a bumper Hygain Australian Trotting Grand Prix field on Saturday night but he’s still well-placed to capture another record close to owner Domenic Martello’s heart.
The six-year-old has won 13 races from his 57 starts and $206,922, which places him behind only Cruisin Around in total stakes won by graduates of the Australian Premier Trotting Sale, which will have its 2019 staging at the Inglis Complex from 11am on Sunday.
If he finishes in the prizemoney on Saturday night – which isn’t a fait accompli with the likes of Tornado Valley, Dance Craze, McLovin, Deltasun and Tough Monarch in the field – Big Jack Hammer will become the sale’s greatest stakes winner, a feat Martello says would make him “very proud”.
“I originally didn’t have trotters, I had pacers, and one night a few years ago I was at home watching the Great Southern Star, having a few beers and watching the trots and having a bet, as you do, and I loved it,” Martello said.
“I didn’t have a trotter at the time and thought, how good’s this, so we went to the sales and bought Big Jack Hammer, a multiple Group 1 winner. How lucky am I?
“I feel very fortunate (and the thing is) I only buy in Australia and so what it means is I couldn’t have done any better.”
The gelding has been in impressive form recently, scoring two Group 1 wins on the trot in the Hygain V L Dullard Trotters Cup at Melton on February 2 and the Aquagait Trotters Mile (in a sizzling 1:54.7 mile rate) at Menangle on March 2.
Martello said the win at Menangle was “thrilling”.
“It was just absolutely awesome, the way he won the race, it took him 2-300 metres to catch them and it sort of gradually, gradually played out in slow motion,” he said.
“I was at Menangle just screaming at the horse for the last 300 metres flat out. I felt like he would get up as he looked like he was always going to get up but he didn’t get there until the very last moment.
“Harness Racing NSW put together a little video which I just watched and I swear to God, you sort of swell up, you feel emotional. They are so hard to win, Group 1s. It just makes it all worthwhile.”
The Hygain Australian Trotting Grand Prix headlines a monster night of all-trots racing, which includes three other Group 1 events.
Martello admitted Big Jack Hammer faced a tough ask against a field headed by the all-conquering Tornado Valley on Saturday night.
“(Tornado Valley) is a superstar and the one to beat, but it’s not just him, there’s other good horses in the field and it will be very tough,” he said.
“When I win a Group 1 I do a (US wrestling manager) Ric Flair ‘woo’, it is part of my celebrations. And there is something Ric Flair said, ‘to be The Man you need to beat The Man’ – you want to be racing these horses so you get the shot at being The Man.
Because nothing compares to a win at #thetrots.
We love Dom Martello’s @RicFlairNatrBoy strut and woooo after capturing his first Group 1 win at @EmpireStallions #VSS18.#OwnTheMoment pic.twitter.com/EjNgtcN37Z— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) July 9, 2018
“I love being in races with other good horses; that’s what I am in racing for. It’s an honour to race against those great horses, it is a great experience whether you win or lose.”
Martello will back up quickly after Saturday’s big night of trots racing with the Australian Premier Trotting Sale to be held at the Inglis Salex Complex this Sunday.
“This year’s sale looks fantastic on paper and I can’t wait to get out there and have good look at them and hopefully choose a horse that is half as good as (Big Jack Hammer),” he said.
“(But if you don’t have a ticket in the lotto you don’t have a chance. And it is not just that, it’s the journey the horse takes you on.
“I actually see myself as a horse’s guardian; they will go through their racing career and I will help them find their next career, their next life.
“Having a horse in your life takes you to all these new places and lets you meet all these new friends and the real treasure of owning a horse is that journey.
“It is not just winning a Group 1 – yeah, that is a real thrill – but it is the journey that it takes you on that creates a lifelong memory, and that is awesome. It makes life just that more exciting.”
