It’s nearly getting to that time of the year when racing heads north for the winter. Devonport hosts the first of 3 meetings of the week on Sunday with a competitive card across the board.
Race one begins at 11:22am with the return of a promising gelding and a host of live chances.
Our Cheerio for Barry Campbell, performed well over his short summer campaign, placing second in the 2YO Magic Millions behind Gold Busker, before running into him again in the Listed Gold Sovereign a few weeks later.
The son of West Quest trialled well behind Campbell’s other exciting two-year-old prospect Teriki at Devonport on May 20th.
Teriki, a $22,000 at the 2014 Tasmanian Magic Millions Sales, has gone unbeaten in her two trials to date with Campbell confident the filly will perform well.
“She is only a little horse but she has got a big motor” said Campbell, who likens the characteristics to his other tiny speedster, former two-year-old of the year Grand Tycoon.
Stable apprentice Ismail Toker will take the ride on the daughter of Written Tycoon.
Other highlights on the program include a highly competitive Benchmark 72 over 1150m.
Form lines from all different avenues make the race a tricky contest for punters.
StrideMASTER Speed Maps have the race broken into two, with a number of the horses going forward whilst the others are happy to take a sit off the speed.
Track Record holder Tennessee Drive returns to the synthetic after nearly a year away from the surface following a good first up run at Launceston when covering some extra ground.
A winner of 3 races from 4 starts, Tennessee Drive should arguably be unbeaten on the surface after an impressive start to his career.
Longford trainer Troy Blacker is confident his five-year-old gelding can recapture his form after pulling up well.
“It’s going to be good to see him back on the surface” Blacker said
“We gave him a run on the grass to get his campaign underway and I thought he ran well. He had to do a bit of work and he came into the race without a trial so I was pleased with how he performed”
The racing pattern of the race seems frantic up top but Blacker wasn’t concerned about the tempo.
“The harder the better. He will sit up in the first four and be coming home hard”
“He is the track record holder, if they go hard he might be able to break his record again” he said.