A flat tyre on the road to Horsham was the unlikely catalyst for Group 1 KCR Pet Transport Maturity Classic contender Crackerjack Aret being named after iconic race caller Rob Testa.

“I had a flat on the way to Horsham one day and my jack collapsed, so I had no hope of making it,” Lethbridge trainer Jordan Cooper recalled.

“Believe it or not, the first car I flagged down was Robbie Testa. He loaned me his jack and ever since then we’ve had a really good relationship.

“Rob used to live in Lara, he always talked dogs with dad (Jeff), and he’s always been good to us, so I asked him to come up with a name for a dog.

“My oldest son’s name is Jack, so I call the male dogs ‘Crackerjack’ and my other boy is Max, so I call the bitches ‘Maximum’.

“Crackerjack Aret is my best hope on Saturday. Box two really suits him.”

“Rob came up with his initials RT, so we called the dog Crackerjack Aret (pronounced Are-Tee). People keep asking what’s an ‘Aret’?

“I also named another dog from the litter Crackerjack Rob after Rob. He’s as good as ‘Aret’ but has had chips in his hock taken out and is on the way back.

“There’s also one called Crackerjack Hawk after Ron Hawkswell.”

Cooper, 42, is optimistic his dream run with the home-grown February ’21 Fernando Bale x Maximum Kack litter can continue when Crackerjack Aret (race 7), Crackerjack Boom (race 10) and outsider Crackerjack Hawk (race 6) tackle Saturday night’s Maturity Classic heats.

Crackerjack Aret and Crackerjack Boom are both prominent in Sportsbet’s markets, with ‘Aret’ (box 2) a $5.50 chance in heat three, while ‘Boom’ (box 4) is $4.50 in the sixth run-off.

WATCH: “Crackerjack Aret runs them into the ground!” Rob Testa relished calling his namesake CRACKERJACK ARET (B8) to a brilliant victory at Horsham on Tuesday, streeting his rivals in a flying 27.03sec (Best).

They look to represent great value in ‘All In’ betting, with Crackerjack Boom $31 and Crackerjack Aret, which Cooper rates the best of his three chances in the ‘must win’ heats, at $51.

Crackerjack Hawk (box 7) is a $34 roughie in a very deep second heat.

“It’s been a really good litter,” Cooper said.

“There’s not much between four of them – ‘Aret’, ‘Rob’, ‘Boom’ and ‘Bull’.

“Crackerjack Aret is my best hope on Saturday. Box two really suits him.

“He’s been racing up in Brisbane, where his runs were terrific without much luck, but he hasn’t been beginning super well, so he’s been his own worst enemy.

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“He had a bad fall in his last run at Albion Park and I was really concerned about how it might have affected him. So I took him to Horsham on Tuesday, a big, open track, hoping it might give him a bit of confidence and he won really well (27.03sec BOD).

“Crackerjack Boom needs to lead, but if he does, he’s as quick as ‘Aret’ on the clock.”

Crackerjack Aret’s grand-dam, Cracker Jack Lil, won 26 races and ran third in the 2013 G1 Golden Easter Egg, while her litter brother Hoover Jack was a Maturity finalist the same year, when sixth to Marcus Joe at a well-fancied $5.50.

Crackerjack Bull (third) and Crackerjack Aret both qualified for the G2 Warrnambool Cup Final in May, while Crackerjack Bull also advanced to the G2 Geelong Cup Final, but Cooper is striving to secure his first G1 finalist as a trainer on Saturday night.

“We bred their mother (Maximum Kack) and she broke in really, really well, but she tore her Achilles,” Jordan explained.

“She was never the same after that, but I always said I’d breed with her.”

To date, Maximum Kack’s first litter – she’s since produced a second to Superior Panama – has combined for 48 victories and a tick under $190,000 in prizemoney, with Crackerjack Bull (10 from 25), Crackerjack Aret (9 from 25) and Crackerjack Boom (9 from 28) leading the charge.