Hovi backs Jack in Townsville Young Guns

By Isaac Murphy

Townsville trainer Harold Hovi has taken hold of Tuesday night’s Townsville Young Guns Final favouritism with Excuse Me Jack, and there’s plenty of reasons why the son of My Redeemer can remain unbeaten over the 380-metre sprint.

In his five starts to date, his narrowest winning margin has been three-and-a-half lengths, equalling the track record with a flying 21.42 seconds at just his third start.

Hovi knew he was good, but even he has been taken aback by the dog’s early accomplishments.

“All his work leading up to his debut - which was only just over a month ago - indicated he was going to be a pretty handy type, he was trialling good time and was pretty bullet proof out of the boxes, but you don’t expect to be going into a Young Guns Final unbeaten with a track record to your name,” Hovi said.

“Winning all those races has put in him a slightly precarious position where after five starts and at 20 months old he’ll be in Open company going forward, but he showed he could handle it in the heats, and it should hold him in good stead once he’s too old for age races.

“I was always going to head to the Young Guns with him; they’re important series' for us up here, I’d be lying if I said I knew he’d be an odds-on pop for the Final - he’ll get his sternest test yet tomorrow night.”

What makes Excuse Me Jack’s run even more impressive is his run of sticky box draws, coming up with four, seven, four, six and six so far - but it hasn’t stopped him from surging to an unassailable lead.

“He’s yet to draw inside box four in his career, that’ll change tomorrow night with him in the three which should suit, but he’ll have to be on his toes to beat the inside two out,” Hovi said.

“If he’s switched on, he should be able to get down to the fence first, his box manners have been something he’s been blessed with and so far - he’s been very reliable to the first turn.

“A dog he could be a bit vulnerable against is Tony Parker’s Bogie Bandit (five), he was a heat winner last week and is probably a bit stronger than us at this stage so we’d like to get away from him early.”

Hovi is one of the trainers that have the standard of Townsville racing at an all-time high, with dogs like Excuse Me Jack and his brother Redemption Day flying the flag for the region.

“I bought him and his brother as pups, I really liked the look of the My Redeemer/Fancy Dancer litter and neither of them have disappointed,” he said.

“His brother Redemption Day won his first two starts with a best of 21.51, only nine tenths slower than Excuse Me Jack, I don’t think there will be much between them going forward.

“He’s first reserve for tomorrow’s Final, he drew wide for the first time in the heats and didn’t quite handle it, but still ran a strong third jumping up from Novice grade.”

The boom set of brothers have won a combined seven from eight races over the 380 metres, but with plenty of natural progression to come, Hovi thinks their early speed will stand up over Townsville’s longer sprint trip.

“The goal when we started both of them was stick to the 380 metres with the Young Guns coming up over that distance, but they’re bred to get the 498 up here and the way they’re hitting the line it won’t be long until I try them over further,” he said.

“We’ve got the 498-metre Young Gun series coming up in October, that gives me a good window to test them out over the distance and hopefully they’ll be peaking over the longer trip.

“Having just gone 20 months, they’ve got so much maturing to do, and as talented as they are at this stage, I’m not really sure just how good they could be.”