Logan Racing's Hasselhoof strides to the fifth of his six race wins during the Dunstan Feeds 1400 at Ellerslie last year. Photo/ Trish Dunell
Logan Racing's Hasselhoof strides to the fifth of his six race wins during the Dunstan Feeds 1400 at Ellerslie last year. Photo/ Trish Dunell
It started with a simple tweet, but now the owners of Ruakaka's star race horse Hasselhoof are one step closer to romancing the idea of linking the bay gelding up with one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
Blown away when David Hasselhoff started following 'The Hoof's' twitter account last month, aco-owner of the classy bay gelding, Rachel Leyland, was even more astounded to find a missed call from 'The Hoff' in the wake of the hype.
"It's the most unreal situation really," she said.
"He rang me a few weeks ago and I actually missed his call at first. Apparently he used to own a horse once and he was keen to get involved.
"I rang him back and he reiterated that he was enjoying it and finding it all very amusing. He was really good about it... I said we'd love to get him down to New Zealand."
Attracting a cult following of sorts since joining Twitter in July last year, Hasselhoof's following has leapt to 424 on Twitter, with another 1467 followers tracking his rise to fame via Facebook.
"It's amazing the trend behind him," Donna Logan, who co-trains Hasselhoof with Chris Gibbs, told Australian radio station RSN.
"Mr Hasselhoff himself has contacted the [Baywatch] syndicate, he's quite keen to take a share in the horse and come down and watch him race.
Former Baywatch and Knight Rider star David Hasselhoff has shown interest in Ruakaka's star race horse Hasselhoof. Photo/ Twitter
Aware that what started out as "a bit of fun" could very well rocket the four-year-old galloper's profile to new heights, Leyland said nothing has been set in stone regarding Hasselhoff acquiring shares in the horse, however, his interest to get "involved" appears authentic.
"It's been a crazy ride. I've got to talk to him again tonight, so we will see what he means by 'involved'."
In the meantime, Hasselhoof will look to extend his unbeaten record this weekend when he contests the A$85,000 open 1600m at Randwick.
The four-year-old, who will carry 58.5kg on Saturday, is unbeaten from six starts and is also scheduled to tackle the Listed Parramatta Cup (1900m) at Rosehill on February 20.
