Ken Hannah, a master of patience
Garrick Knight - Raceform • June 14th, 2025 11:00 AM • 3 min read
There’s patience, and then there’s Ken Hannah’s tolerance of Waihemo Hannah.
The daughter of Peak is rising 10 years old and only now, in the winter of 2025, has she started to deliver on the promise Hannah says she’s always shown him.
Waihemo Hannah had her first workout out in 2018, but didn’t clear maidens for another four and a half years. Two winters on, she’s finally added two more victories to her record and there is hope another may follow at Addington on Sunday.
“The penny has only just dropped with her,” said Hannah, who is based at Leeston, southwest of Christchurch.
“At first, we raced her as a pacer – she had five starts – but she just didn’t like the hopples around her legs. She did free-leg pace beautifully though.”
The fact that Waihemo Hannah’s first inclination was to pace is somewhat ironic given her imported Danish sire, Peak, is regarded as one of the most fluent and pure trotters ever to grace our tracks.
Eventually, after a long spell and some Hannah patience, Waihemo Hannah started to trot. She got back to the races in 2022 after two years away from the track, but there were still a few hills to climb yet.
Old habits die hard, and Waihemo Hannah disgraced herself by pacing in her first four starts as a trotter, taking part in none of them. Then, a glimmer of hope – she trotted and won, showing the speed that had kept her trainer interested all along.
“She was running a half in two, pacing as a very young horse, so I knew she had it in her.”
Fast forward to April this year and she has placed in just one of her 25 starts since that win.
Hannah’s mettle was being tested – not for the first time – but as autumn crept up, something changed in his mare, and she’s turned into a completely different horse. Her last six starts have yielded two wins and three second placings, one of them a huge effort from last at Ashburton on June 1.
Suddenly, after languishing at the bottom of betting markets for over half a decade, she’s now in the discussion for favourite.
This week’s $12,500 Any Excuse Syndicate Silk Road (Heat 3) Mobile Trot is a stiff test, but one Hannah and Dunn think she’s up for.
“I’m quite happy with her, as is John (Dunn, driver). The best way to drive her is sit back and come around them from the 600. Light her up and let her sprint. She’s won a couple like that now.
“John drove her differently last time and she got stuck in the breeze. He said he won’t do that again this week.”
So is he daring to dream of a fourth win with his long-term passion project?
“Of course!”
