Further rich plums are on the menu for exciting youngster Hez the Boss after he carried too many guns for his rivals when he sped to victory in the $125,000 APG WA Sales Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Ace trainer Colin Brown has a high opinion of the gelding, who will be aimed at further lucrative events later in the year.
Hez the Boss will now be sent for a spell before being prepared for the $250,000 Pearl Classic (August 7), the $215,000 Westbred Classic (September 4) and the $150,000 Golden Slipper (September 25).
Hez The Boss was the $2.30 second fancy from out wide at barrier eight on Friday night, and Gary Hall jnr was aiming to race the gelding with a sit.
“I was planning on sitting him up and hoping that there would be plenty of speed before using Hez The Boss’s fast sprint,” said Hall. “I saw that no one was going early, and a gap appeared, one out and one back. I had my eye on that, but I just missed getting there. So, I just kept going.”
Hez the Boss then surged to the front after 450m, and he was able to cruise through the second 400m section in 30.9sec. before covering the next quarters in 29.3sec. and 29sec. to win by just over two lengths from $71 outsider Rip Tide, who was fastest to begin (from barrier seven) and then enjoyed the perfect trail behind the frontrunning Hez The Boss.
Ideal Whisper, the $2.20 favourite, raced three back on the pegs and was badly hemmed in during the final circuit before finally getting clear in the late stages and finishing fast into third place.
Hez the Boss is by the Somebeachsomewhere stallion Poster Boy and is the seventh foal out of New Zealand-bred mare Falcons Gem, who was retired after racing three times as a three-year-old at Pinjarra in August 2011for a third, fourth and fifth placing for earnings of $827.
Falcons Gem’s claim to fame is that she is a younger sister of Ebony Gem, who won the 2008 Chariots Of Fire at Harold Park, beating Lombo Pocket Watch by a half-head.
Falcons Gem is also the dam of Menemsha, who has earned $357,859 from eight wins and 18 placings from 45 starts, including the group 1 Westbred Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings in September 2023 three weeks after winning the Pearl Classic and a year before finishing second to Christopher Dance in the WA Derby, and then as a four-year-old winning the group 3 August Cup from Rolling Fire.
Brown now has won the Sales Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings three times, with his previous successes as a trainer and driver being with Armadon (2002) and Its Rock And Roll (2018).
For Hall, Friday night’s success was his sixth in the classic, following the wins of Blissfull Boy (2010), Black Aquila (2011), Almightyjoelouis (2016), Valedictorian (2022) and Ideal Beach (2025).
Hall gained the drive behind Hez The Boss after his partner Maddison Brown recommended him to her father (Colin) because she was planning to be in Melbourne in recent weeks as the track rider and strapper for WA galloper and the 2025 Railway Stakes winner Watch Me Rock during his Victorian campaign.
Colin Brown said that before Maddison drove Hez The Boss on his debut at Pinjarra on January 26, the gelding couldn’t run a mile quicker than 2.5 on the track --- and then revealed great pace on debut when leading and sprinting over the final quarters in 28sec. and 27.9sec. before finishing a nose second to Seaside Serenade.
Hall has now driven Hez The Boss three times for three impressive victories. The gelding has earned $84,636. He was purchased for $100,000 by Liam O’Connor at the 2025 APG Perth yearling sale.
“Liam then asked breeders Trevor and Colleen Lindsay if they would like a 20 per cent share in Hez The Boss, an offer they were happy to accept,” said Brown.
