Jeremy Wells shows Hilary Barry an image of her namesake when the Seven Sharp cameras were at Alexandra Park in December.
Revealed: Why Hilary Barry loves her namesake but fears giving her a hug
By Barry Lichter • 17 January 2019
Don’t ever expect to see Hilary Barry patting her namesake as lovingly as her Seven Sharp offsider Jeremy Wells swoons over the horse named after him.
But it’s not because Hilary isn’t excited about Lincoln Farms’ two-year-old, who makes her much awaited debut at Alexandra Park on Friday night.
Hilary, funnily enough, has a violent allergy to horse hair and says any major showing of affection on her part would result in bouts of sneezing and her coming out in hives.
“I’ll be watching more than touching when I see her,’’ says Hilary. “I might pat her with one hand but I’ll then have to go and wash my hands straight away.’’
As it turns out Hilary can’t make it to the track on Friday - she’s away in the South Island shooting a story - but she says she’ll be doing her best to find a TV or watch it online at 7.28pm.
“I’m very excited about her progress,’’ says Hilary. “She looks very tidy and, because Jeremy isn’t beside me at the moment, I can say she’s much better looking than his horse.
“Actually I had to severely reprimand Jeremy (after the last story) for saying I was a member of pony clubs as a kid and was very good at dressage.
“He’s such a kidder - I’ve only ridden a horse once in my life.
“But we’re finding this very entertaining. It’s such fun that it’s transpired that two horses have been named after us.
Hilary Barry, foreground, went across the line locked together with Jeremy Wells, left, when they clashed in a trial last month.“The ultimate would be for the two to race against each other and for Hilary to beat him.’’
That doesn’t look like happening in the near future however as Jeremy Wells had to slink back down south to Canterbury after disgracing himself when galloping on debut then beating only a galloper home in his second try.
Hilary, who has been to the races only once before - and it was so long ago she can’t remember when - is feeling quite smug abut the filly performing better than that on Friday.
Hilary Barry has been well schooled by trainer Ray Green, with seven workouts and trials over the last two months and, bad luck aside, she has shown plenty of ability.
In her last trial on January 5 she showed good gate speed to lead and looked to be travelling like a winner when one of her hopple carrier straps broke and tangled round her hind leg, sending her into a wild gallop. Incredibly, it was the second time it had happened.
From the inside of the second row she won’t be able to use that early speed on Friday night but Green is hoping she can get an economical run behind pole runner Emmber and get some of the money.
“She’s a lovely driving filly who you can put anywhere in a race and she does nothing wrong.’’
Green jokes that every time he says that something weird seems to happen to the filly but on the way she’s worked in the last two weeks, he’s confident of a bold showing in the first Young Guns heat for fillies.
“She should have the wood on my other filly, Beaudiene Blinkz. But she’s extremely honest and has a pedigree to lift her game on the day.’’
By Badlands Hanover, she is a full sister to 22-race winner Beaudiene Bad Babe and Beaudiene Boaz, winner of 25 races and A$1.25 million.
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Two (not so) secret weapons help Lincoln Farms to $29,287 payday at Cambridge
Deb dresses her latest ‘Copy’ weanling in white and he delivers a Major coup
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Cambridge
Race 1: Spirited Belle
4.46pm
Delany: “I saw she’d been punted but somebody must know something we don’t as I’ve been working her myself and, while she feels all right and hasn’t put the boot in like at Auckland, I think she’ll need the run. She hasn’t got any high speed but feels like she will stay. She has improved a bit but I’d be surprised if she won.”
Race 1: Lincoln Maree
4.46pm
“It’s always hard from these draws but she’s a tough mare who will make her own luck at some stage. She’s going well enough - her drivers have all been happy - and she’s a little warrior who tries like hell.”
Race 2: Major Copy
5.12pm
“He’s only two and very inexperienced but he feels like a good colt and there’s a lot of improvement in him. He certainly caught a lot of people’s attention last time. I don’t know how good he is yet but he’ll be right there.”
Race 2: Prince Lincoln
5.12pm
“If he can lead without having to do too much work I can’t see anything beating him. I thought he went great last start. He pressed the winner hard ’til the corner then just flattened out in the run home, but he had every reason to do that after all the work he’d done.”
Race 4: Spirit Of God
6.12pm
“She’s been undone by bad draws. If she led easily from three she’d be hard to beat as she’s a good front-runner.”
Race 4: Spirited Peggy
6.12pm
“We’ve had her for only two weeks but she’s seven now and has had her chance to win one. She has a bit of speed but I think she gets pulling so we’ve got the Hidez (compression) hood on her and plugged her ears up.”
Race 6: Copy N Paste
7.10pm
“We won’t see the best of him for another six months. He’s been a slow developing horse but is improving all the time and getting stronger.”
Race 6: Jessie Lincoln
7.10pm
“If I was having a bet on one of them in the race it would be her. She deserves to win one. Her last two have been really good - she just ran into one who was a bit slicker last time in Major Copy.”
Race 6: Lincoln Dealer
7.10pm
“He’s a bit one-dimensional - you’ve got to feed him track and let him run - so the second row draw is a big handicap. To his credit I was surprised he finished so close last time after all the work he did. When he gets a decent draw and crosses them they’ll know they’re at the races. He’s got a big motor and tries hard.”
Race 8: Rivergirl Bella
8.08pm
“She clawed her way to the front last time but had nothing left at the finish. That won’t happen this time and she should lead easily from one.”
Race 8: Angelic Copy
8.08pm
“She’s had terrible draws but has been going good races. The others last time were just better than her but this is a big drop in class. With the right trip she could get some of it at huge odds.”
Race 9: Sugar Ray Lincoln
8.35pm
“He’s not quick away from a stand but he won’t muff it completely. He steps from the front line and Peter Ferguson was quite happy with his last run.”
Race 9: Lincoln Wave
8.35pm
“He bombed the stand the first time but to be fair all those horses were rushing up at him from the back and that panicked him a bit. He’s on 10 metres this time so that won’t happen.”
