TALENTED two-year-old pacer Hillview Jake staked his claim on the 2YO Sweepstakes final with an impressive win in a heat at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart last night (Sunday).
Hillview Jake led from the pole position and went on to score by 1-1/2 metres from Pockets of Courage with the odds-on favourite Riley Major over six metres away third.
It was an impressive performance from the Paul Hill-trained youngster that covered the 1609 metres in a slick 1m.58.46 seconds which was only a half-second outside of Make a Memory’s age and sex record on the Hobart circuit.
Hill was delighted with the win and believes his well-bred juvenile only needs a front-row draw to take out the final in a fortnight.
Hillview Jake has won three of his four starts including an impressive victory in the Golden Mile (1680m) in Launceston prior to last night’s performance.
He led in the Golden Slipper and staved off all challenges with top Victorian reinsman Gavin Lang in the sulky and he gave the son of Cardmaster Hanover a glowing report.
“I couldn’t be happier with this horse and what he is showing at this stage is only a glimpse of what he might show when he fully grasps what this caper is all about,” Hill said.
“If he gets a front row draw in the final the others will definitely know they’ve been in a race,” he said.
Pockets of Courage ran on well after trailing the leader throughout while Riley Major faced the breeze outside of the leader for the last lap but lost ground sharply turning for home.
However Riley Major came again in the home straight to finish s game third with his trainer Rohan Hillier explaining that his horse lost his balance on the home turn.
The remaining heat was won by the Rohan Hillier-trained Soho Shanghai that proved too strong for Timely Sovereign and Masters Ace with the winner clocking a mile rate of only 2.05.6.
Soho Shanghai scored by 0.3 metres from Timely Sovereign with Masters Ace just over three metres astern.
The $20,000 final will be held at Tattersall’s Park on May 17.