By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk
Palmerston North is not the most convenient place to get to for Crystal Hackett but the effort last night was certainly worth it.
The Auckland-based junior driver won four races on the seven race card at Manawatu with Ragnar Lothbrok, Kenny Hill, Colin McBride and Skys Legacy.
“A few of them just stuck their heads out at the right time and they all tried really hard so it was a good night,” says Hackett.
So which one was the most satisfying?
“All of them,” Hackett says without hesitation.
“I thought beforehand I had a nice book and that I could get one or two wins so to get four was great.”
“They’d all been racing well and deserved it.”
Ragnar Lothbrok’s win in Race 1, the Andrew and Lyn Neal Stables Mobile, was arguably Hackett’s best drive of the night.
Drawn two, the favourite was three and then four back the fence and looking in real trouble a lap from home.
But at around the 600 metre mark the gaps opened and Hackett made her move three wide. Ragnar Lothbrok was not going to be denied, beating a game Call Security by half a length.
“The race certainly didn’t pan out the way I thought it would,” says Hackett, “he’s only a little fella but he toughed it out.”
Named after a Viking hero, it was Ragnar Lothbrok’s second win in 13 starts.
It was the second time that Hackett’s had four wins at one meeting, replicating her efforts with Run Forest Run, Pixie, Claude and Ilsas Son at Cambridge in July 2023.
It was also good reward for the time and effort needed to get to Palmerston North. Hackett usually flies down from Auckland at lunchtime on the day of the meeting and then gets a lift home after the meeting with fellow driver Emily Johnson and her father.
“It’s six hours from Palmy to my place – I got home about two this morning,” says Hackett.
The hard work though is certainly paying off.
“I got 43 wins last year and I set myself a target of 50 this year and I am already at 32 so things are going really good.”
