Shailer looks to raise the bar with Ha'penny Hatch

By Glenn Davis

She may have an unusual name but trainer Paul Shailer has big expectations for his unbeaten filly Ha’penny Hatch.

The New Zealand-bred filly won her only two starts impressively and will be shooting for a hat-trick of wins in the Listed Calway Gal Stakes at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Shailer is using the Calway Gal as a springboard into the Group 2 BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes over 1400 metres at Eagle Farm on May 31.

“I’m not sure how far she’ll go in the winter but we’ll get a good line after the Calaway Gal,” Shailer said.

“She’s bred to get 1600 metres and she’s freshened up well since her last win and had a soft trial on Tuesday.”

Although Ha’penny Hatch has raced on the speed in her only two victories, but Shailer believes she’ll be even better as a chaser.

“He first win was very good but there’s a question mark on the opposition she beat that day,” Shailer said.

“She was too good for them when she led last time but I’m sure she’ll be a better chaser than a leader and she might get that chance on Saturday.

“I’m sure she’ll run well in the Calaway Gal as she’s got that race experience now and is a winner.”

Ha’penny Hatch won on debut at Eagle Farm last month to give her New Zealand sire Circus Maximus his first Australian winner.

She is named after an historical location on the Thames River in London where landowners once charged a halfpenny in 1768 to use a path as a shortcut between Westminster and London Bridges to attend an equestrian event which evolved into the modern circus format.

She was a cheap $NZ33,000 buy by Shailer despite being a daughter of Group 2 Wellington Guineas winner Emily Margaret whose mother Pins claimed the multiple Group 2 races and the Group 1 Cadbury Guineas at Flemington in 2000.

“She was the cheapest horse in Book 1 at the Karaka sales and she may have slipped through the cracks,” Shailer said.

Ha’penny Hatch is part owned by Peter Tighe of Winx fame.

Tighe has been an ardent supporter of Shailer along with fruiterer Darren Frame and publican Brian Hooper who have helped him build a strong stable of 40 horses in work at the Gold Coast.

Shailer worked for more than a decade for Sydney’s champion trainer Chris Waller before moving to the Gold Coast to launch the stable’s Queensland satellite stable a few years back.

He later branched out on his own and moved to Port Macquarie for a short two-year period before relocating back to the Gold Coast about 12 months ago.