In Brief
- 71 rater the class horse in the race.
- Trainer says Date Night has carried weight previously.
- Underplay to improve from first-up run.
The saying is that weight can stop a train, but Sheffield-based trainer Rowan Hamer is hoping it won’t stop eight-year-old gelding Date Night in Devonport on Sunday.
The lightly raced son of Not a Single Doubt – France Soir enters Sunday’s Carlton and United Breweries Benchmark 60 Hcp (1150m) with a handicap rating of 71 which is nine clear of the two next rated horses, Gee Gee Sox and Merciabelle, both rated 62.
The winner of five races previously, Date Night will carry 62.5kg even after the 3kg claim for apprentice Kiran Quilty, but the significant impost doesn’t concern the gelding’s trainer.
“He’s not a big horse but I’m not worried about the weight at all.
“Because he’s a front runner and he’s going to go flat, it doesn’t seem to bother him as much as the ones that need to pick up and sprint with it,” said trainer Rowan Hamer referencing that Date Night won two races in succession at the end of last campaign in benchmark 60 grade.
The gelding had his first-up run in Launceston on 7 April where he only beat one runner home, but his trainer says there were several excuses for the performance.
“I ran him the other day instead of trialling and they went a hundred miles an hour and he was found out,” said Hamer referring to the race where Date Night crossed the line with Loki Patera who subsequently came out and was beaten in a photo last Sunday in Hobart.
Last start winners Gee Gee Sox and Rising Hsiang appear the logical dangers to Date Night on Sunday, but Hamer would be surprised if his horse is not featuring in the finish.
“This is where we targeted him, it should suit him and he’s drawn well,” added the trainer.
Underplay (Jack Martin) wins the 2019 Golden Mile from Beaufort Lad in Devonport.
Hamer will saddle up two of the six runners in the final race of the day, the Legacy Benchmark 78 Hcp (1350m) where he expects improvement from recent stable addition Underplay.
“One of my owners bought Underplay from David (Miller) because he isn’t training anymore and they only paid $5,000 for him,” said Hamer about the eight-year-old gelding who won 10 races and close to $150,000 in prizemoney for previous trainer David Miller who also bred the horse.
Underplay is another runner who didn’t flatter first-up, but he was 378 days between runs when he finished fifth of five facing several horses he will meet again on Sunday.
“He trialled on the Tuesday but when the field came up small, we decided to run him in the race.
“He had only been in work 10 weeks leading into that run so he’s still probably only 85% fit for Sunday, but he has definitely come on and the speed should be better this week,” the trainer said.
Hamer’s other runner in the small field is 62 rater Comiskey Park who will take benefit from the run but will likely need an easier assignment before he returns to the winner’s stall.
Hamer has a team of around 11 horses in work and while the majority of them will be aimed at races on the synthetic in the coming months, he says he isn’t against coming to Hobart if the conditions suit.
“If it rains we’ll come to Hobart. Date Night, Comiskey (Park) and Underplay love the wet so if we get rain we might head down there.”
Watch the replay of Date Night winning with 60kg in Launceston back in October.