Havtimewillfly headlines big day for Brett Gray

By Jonny Turner 

It wasn’t just the Ascot Park 1700m track record Havtimewillfly obliterated on Thursday.

The filly helped trainer Brett Gray set a new record of his own as he notched a personal best four wins in a day.

Havtimewillfly didn’t just break Ascot Park’s 1700m benchmark for three-year-old fillies, she smashed the all-comers record in her Southern Oaks heat victory.

The filly’s 1.59.2 time took a massive 1.8 seconds off the previous mark shared by Life’s A Beach and Somekindofwonderful.

Havtimewillfly had built excellent form this campaign, barring an ordinary performance in her last outing at Gore.

Gray had worked to put that run behind the filly and judging by her brilliant win, it clearly worked.

“After her run at Gore we worked on a few wee things and got a bit of work into her.”

“She’s a nice filly and seems best when she can stay handy to the speed.”

“It was a good effort today because she was in the early burn but she ran it out strong in great time.”

“The drive was a big help too, it was a Brent Barclay special.”

Haley Jaccka was somewhat unlucky not to have her name on the Ascot Park 1700m track record following her win in Thursday’s Southern Belle Speed Series heat.

The mare took 0.3 seconds off the previous mark, which had already been smashed earlier on the Invercargill card by her stablemate Havtimewillfly.

“She’s just a lovely mare and a stable favourite,” Gray said. 

“She went good at Wyndham on Sunday and to back up today and go nice again is a good effort.”

Gray started his winning run when teaming up with Nathan Williamson, who won his first race since his recent return to race driving with Blaze Lightning.

The four-year-old also ran slick time, scoring in 2.39.5 for 2200m.

“He has got a bit of bottom to him, he is getting better with racing,” Gray said.

“He has been a bit of a dummy but with every start he has got a lot better.”

By margin, Our Twinkle’s victory was the biggest of Gray’s four winners.

The pacer ran away to score by a massive 17 and a half lengths, also with Williamson in the sulky.

Williamson was competing in his fourth meeting since returning to driving after his nasty race spill at Alexandra Park in December.

The reinsman is looking forward to the coming weeks after ticking off that first win back.

“Everything feels back to normal as it should.”

“We have had a slow start to the season with my own team but we have a bit of ammo building up that’s ready to go, so we will start rolling a few out.”

Gray wasn’t the only horseman to complete a personal milestone on Thursday.

After winning his first Group race in the sulky on Sunday, Mark Hurrell scored four driving wins with Garrone, Always B Royal, Jenny Gump and Shiver In The Dark.