Oatlands trainer Matthew Cooper continued his good run at Luxbet Park Hobart last Friday night when five-year-old mare Call Her Julie brought up her second win since joining the hobby trainer’s care.
Cooper, who also took the drive, was able to jump in behind the leader Warrior Mac soon after the start before gaining a late split over the concluding stages. “I got behind the leader and thought where am I going to go from here, coming around the last turn a gap started to open so I pulled the ear plugs and bang, away she went,” the winning trainer-driver said.
The Lombo Pocket watch mare started her racing career in Victoria with David Jack before crossing Bass Straight in June last year finding her way to the Ben Yole stable. “I saw her for sale online so I rang up Ben Yole and made an offer to which they agreed, I went up to the races in Launceston that Sunday night and she got beaten by 156 metres and I thought to myself what have I got here,” Cooper recalled.
“I brought her back home and did a few different things with her and then took her to the trials a few weeks later and she went really well,” the trainer said. Cooper didn’t have to wait long to make a quick return with his purchase when she won first-up for his stable in early March at Luxbet Park Hobart. The pacer has only missed a cheque twice in five starts for Cooper.
Cooper wasn’t overly interested in the industry early on but it didn’t take him long to get hooked. “I never liked horses early on but I owed Justin Campbell a favour and I went and gave him a hand at his stables one day, I jumped on a horse that day and I fell in love with the industry and from that day on I always wanted to be involved in the sport.”
Cooper was denied a training and driving double when Onemorelaugh was beaten by a short half head later in the program.
Call Her Julie will be looking for back-to-back wins when she contests race four in Hobart on Sunday night.