400 for Wallis and Hackett with Alexandra Park double

By Michael Guerin

The North Island’s leading stable is starting to look south.

 Husband and wife team Michelle Wallis and Bernie Hackett brought up their 400th win together with a double at Alexandra Park last night.

They are also 10 wins clear of Ray Green and Nathan Delany on the North Island trainer’s premiership.  They have trained 39 winners compared with Green and Delany’s 29 after the latter pair also trained a double on Friday night.

The Wallis/Hackett barn have their best training strike rate ever and are already over $600,000 in stakes with a stacked calendar in the back end of the season to aim at.

“It is going great and we are a little surprised at the numbers,” says Wallis.

They won an early trot on Friday with Mad Mary, who looks a very progressive filly albeit one who isn’t staked for races like the Sires’ Stakes so she will stick closer to home.

But the winner of Friday night’s main trot Belle Neige will at least be nominated for races like the Dominion on Cup Day.

“We will nominate two or three and make our decisions later,” she told HRNZ.

“We were thinking of some of the mares races down south with her but she would probably get big handicaps.

“But if she keeps improving she could contest some of those good trots, I mean how else do you find out how good they are?”

Belle Neige sprinted like a good trotter as she swept past her rivals on Friday night in the hands of Wallis’s daughter Crystal, who is having a super season of her own.

She is locked in her own North Island premiership battle with 47 wins for the season, three behind Zachary Butcher on 50 and Harrison Orange having a stunning season on 48 wins.

Remarkably Butcher and Orange have an almost identical strike rate.

Friday night’s pacing handicap was taken out by Always Flyin for Graeme Rogerson and driver James Stormont as he stepped best and led throughout in a nicely rated drive.

The last 400m in 27.2 seconds meant Always Flyin couldn’t be caught but favourite Mantra Blue did a great job running into second, breaking 27 seconds for her last 400m.

The juvenile event saw Andretti cross to the lead and hold on with a 27.6 second last 400m and he too is to head south in the spring as part of the Purdon team.