Trainer of Millionaire Horses
Gary Hall Snr is one of the most successful trainers in the history of harness racing in Western Australia. He has trained more than 2,200 winners, which include eight WA Pacing Cups, and he has won eight Leading Trainers’ Premierships.
In the early 1980s, as Hall’s training career began to flourish, he decided to give a Racy Prince colt his first run. “I got the young stable-hand to drive the colt with instructions to follow us around and not be too concerned if he struggled to keep up in the last lap,” Hall recalled. “No one was more surprised than me when the colt sprinted past my two more illustrious stable-mates in the last lap”. The colt, named Zakara, went on to win 44 of his 134 starts and more than $477,000.
In the early 1990s, Hall began importing horses from New Zealand, and in 2001 he struck the jackpot with the arrival of three year old colt, ‘The Falcon Strike’. Purchased by Hall’s stable clients, The Falcon Strike won his first four starts in Western Australia. He then won both the Group 1 WA Pacing Cup and Group 1 Fremantle Cup as a four year old, then backed that up with a further two WA Pacing Cups, two Australian Pacing Championships and a second Fremantle Cup in the ensuing three seasons.
In 2008, Hall struck gold a second time when he arranged the purchase of three year old ‘Im Themightyquinn’. After his 4 year old season, Im Themightyquinn proved almost unbeatable. In 18 starts against the Southern Hemisphere’s best horses over four seasons of racing, Im Themightyquinn was never unplaced at Group 1 level, recording a remarkable 12 wins, including three Inter Dominion Championships.
An Outstanding Track Record
Hall has a total of 31 wins at Group 1 level since 2002, including a record eight WA Pacing Cups, five Fremantle Cups, three Australian Pacing Championships, two Auckland Cups, a WA Derby, WA Oaks, Golden Nugget Championship and McInerney Ford Classic.