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Bull supreme again but new driver summoned

Headshot of Ernie Manning
Ernie ManningThe West Australian
The Gary Hall Jr and Chicago Bull partnership will be broken up next time out.
Camera IconThe Gary Hall Jr and Chicago Bull partnership will be broken up next time out. Credit: Hamilton Content Creators

Reinsman Stuart McDonald has been booked to take over driving star pacer Chicago Bull in his final lead-up race to the $300,000 Fremantle Pacing Cup and $450,000 WA Pacing Cup.

He replaces top reinsman Gary Hall Jr, who began a 19-day suspension after he drove the $2 million stake-earner to win the Howard Porter Memorial at Gloucester Park tonight.

Chicago Bull, trained by Hall’s father Gary Sr, has won at 53 of 72 Perth starts and his overall tally is 58 victories in 87 races.

“Bully will be driven by Stuart McDonald when he next races,” Hall Sr said after the Porter Memorial. “He’ll run in the Pat Cranley Memorial on November 13 to top him off for the Fremantle Cup a week later.”

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Hall Jr copped a 12-day suspension for causing interference at Gloucester Park on October 23 and had a week added to his ban when stewards ruled he had again driven carelessly at Pinjarra last Monday.

He is eligible to resume race driving two days before the Fremantle Cup, which will be a fortnight ahead of the WA Pacing Cup.

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“Stuart knows Chicago Bull,” Hall Sr said. “He has driven him in a race.”

McDonald finished third with the gelding on December 29, 2017.

Hall Jr has driven Chicago Bull in each of his 42 subsequent races, for 31 wins.

Chicago Bull, a $1.10 favourite last night, led all the way and rated 1:54.7 when he beat Shockwave ($9.80) by more than 3m, and Jack Farthing ($18.80) finished third, a half-head behind the runner-up.

Hall Sr is adamant that Chicago Bull has regained the form he showed when winning the Fremantle Pacing Cup and WA Pacing Cup double in 2017.

“He was as sharp as ever in tonight’s win,” Hall Sr said. “But I had my concerns before the race.

“His action looked floppy and he was taking tiny steps in his preliminary. But he was into full business when the mobile barrier neared the starting point.”

The seven-year-old, a winner at 10 of his past 11 starts, has made a great comeback since sustaining serious spinal injuries when he fell in a stable mishap during a New Zealand campaign two years ago.

After a long spell, he has notched 15 wins, five seconds and a third in his past 21 starts.

Stroke Of Luck had to withstand a protest involving a breach of whip rules before being declared the winner of the Retravision Pace.

The Ross Olivieri-trained Stroke Of Luck ($6.20) scored by almost 2m from Patrickthepiranha ($7.30). Jimmy Mack ($30.90) ran a close third.

Patrickthepiranha’s trainer-reinsman Colin Brown alleged Stroke Of Luck’s driver Chris Voak had broken rules on whip use when vigorously urging home the winner.

But stewards dismissed Brown’s objection.

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