“Get stuffed”: Why Hall will never back Regal Award again

SENTrack & RSN’s Gareth Hall had some very poetic words for Regal Award after his disappointing loss in the Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m).

Prior to the Group 3, the three-year-old’s trainer, Phillip Stokes, spruiked the bay as the “class runner of the day”, yet the gelding failed to live up to those expectations, bombing the start to end up losing by 2.75 lengths.

This has been a common occurrence for the son of Ole Kirk, and despite being regularly fancied in the market for each of his races, he has only managed two wins from his nine career starts.

With growing frustration surrounding Regal Award, Hall exclaimed that he will never back the horse again.

“Never again, never again, he is sacked,” Hall told SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.

“I loved him and I thought he would be competitive in a Stradbroke (1400m), but he can go and get stuffed now.

“That was heartbreaking on Saturday.”

Expert tipster David Gately also chimed in on the conversation, also expressing his disappointment in Regal Award.

Gately explained that if the Stokes stable can’t improve the gelding’s pre-race antics, then the promising three-year-old will never amount to anything.

“I'm not as poetic as that, but it was bitterly disappointing,” Gately agreed.

“It just shows you doing how important doing everything right is.

“You can get away with that crap in the midweeks, and the Benchmark 23s or whatever we’ve got on our 75 raceday cards now, but you can't get away with it at the top end.

“That's a big challenge for his stable. They're very astute but if they can't get his head right, he's going to be a frosties player.”

Continuing from Gately’s point surrounding the Stokes stable, leading form analyst Brent Zerafa emphasised that Phillip would have been pulling his hair out, wondering what to do with the bay.

“The funny thing with that horse, like last preparation he was sort of getting forward and getting keen, and now this preparation, they can't get him out of the barriers early,” Zerafa said.

“So, as much as Phillip Stokes would have enjoyed the South Australian Derby victory, I think he would have been very frustrated and working out what he needs to do to get the best out of Regal Award.”

Regal Award is currently $15 with Sportsbet to win the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap on June 13.

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