Only one pacer, Whitbys Miss Penny, in 1991, has won the double of the WA Oaks and WA Derby, and now Fakenit, the effortless victor in the $150,000 TABtouch WA Oaks at Gloucester Park on Friday night, has the chance to emulate that performance in four week’s time.
Master trainer Gary Hall snr will give some thought to setting Fakenit the task of competing against the colts and geldings in the $200,000 Derby.
Fakenit has revealed the potential to succeed against male rivals with the quality of her wins at her past three starts --- over the Derby distance of 2536m in a prelude and the final of the Oaks and in the 2130m Daintys Daughter Classic.
She rated 1.57.2 in the Oaks prelude and 1.57 when she romped to an effortless three-length win over Ruby Lovera in the final at Gloucester Park on Friday night when her driver Maddison Brown said she was surprised at the ease of her victory.
Only five fillies have won the Derby over the past 75 years --- Whitbys Miss Penny, Via Vista (1981), Hill Oro (1969), Swahili (1962) and Happy Mint (1950).
The 29-year-old Brown, who drove the Hall-trained Skylou to win the 2023 WA Derby, has formed a splendid association with Fakenit, having driven the filly at her past four starts for three wins and a close second to Its Maa Time in the $100,000 Westbred final for fillies.
And Hall has a wonderful record in the Derby, having won the big race six times over the past twelve years, scoring with Alta Christiano (2013), Beaudiene Boaz (2015), Chicago Bull (2016), King Of Swing (2018), Major Trojan (2019) and Skylou (2023).
The richly gifted Brown again revealed her great skill in the sulky on Friday night when she was confident, cool, calm, calculating and composed in landing her fifth group 1 winner at Gloucester Park, with Fakenit following the big-race wins of Longreach Bay in the 2020 Westbred Classic for three-year-old colts and geldings, Skylou in the 2023 WA Derby, Tricky Miki in the 2023 Golden Nugget and Xceptional Arma in the 2023 Westbred Classic for two-year-old fillies.
Earlier this year Fakenit had problems with her tractability and her habit of hitting a knee, but all that has been solved since Hall used a one-legged spreader to straighten her out.
“I got the drive when this addition to her gear was made,” said Brown. “And I’ have not had an issue with her. The spreader has helped immensely; it has improved her steering and has prevented her from hitting a knee.
“I was so confident in her that I didn’t have to do a lot of form because I knew that I just had to drive her to the pace of the race. She was travelling well in the early stages and once I got around to the breeze, I noticed that the leader (the $3 favourite Copper Head Lady) wasn’t travelling, so I didn’t have to worry. All I had to do was to make sure to keep Junior (Gary Hall jnr) in a pocket (with Bettathanlife).”
Fakenit, the $4.70 third favourite from out wide at barrier eight, settled down in seventh position, one-out and three-back, before Brown sent the filly forward with a three-wide burst about 700 metres after the start.
Fakenit moved to the breeze about 1450m from home, thus enabling the $3.20 second favourite Bettathanlife to enjoy the one-out, one-back position. Fakenit took a narrow lead with 550m to travel, and she quickly dashed away from her rivals to coast home with plenty in reserve.
Ruby Lovera ran home solidly to finish second after enjoying a soft trip, three back on the pegs. Copper Head Lady held on to finish a half-length farther back in third place, just ahead of Bettathanlife.
Bettathanlife had no luck in the final stages. She was badly blocked for a clear passage and was hampered when she locked sulky wheels with Captainshavtime 220m from home before getting clear on the home turn.
The WA-bred Fakenit, who did not race as a two-year-old, is by outstanding American sire American Ideal and is the first foal out of Alta Christiano mare Fake News, who earned $177,412 from 14 wins and seven placings from 38 starts. Fakenit now has raced eight times for five wins, three placings and $166,525.
