Twenty two year old Brighton reinsman Brendan Gebel leads a closely contested 2010 Bullock Consulting Youngbloods following the completion of the fourth heat at Devonport on Monday night.
Gebel has accrued 31 points with Amy Crossland and David Medhurst tied for second on 28 points. James Johnson is next on 26, followed by Justin Howlett (24), Bradley Wise (24), Braydon Withers (24), Nathan Ford (22), Melissa Maine (21) and Ben Rossendell (21).
The first heat at TattersallsPark (Hobart) on Sunday night went to Amy Crossland driving the Rohan Hillier prepared Thirsty Mach. The Mach Three gelding was sent out a $1.60 favourite and Crossland drove a copybook race to record a comfortable win.
Brendan Gebel benefited from the win. As he did not have a drive in the first heat, the series conditions require a randomly allocated “notional drive”. Gebel drew Thirsty Mach and both he and Crossland ended up with 12 points.
The second heat was won by the 2008 Youngbloods Champion David Medhurst behind the Eric Jacobson prepared Billabong Bertie. Medhurst arrived in the shadows of the post to defeat Loaded To Run (Justin Howlett).
The third heat was at Devonport on Monday night and resulted in an all the way win for Braydon Withers driving Inchbyinch for record breaking Tasmanian trainer Barrie Rattray. Inchbyinch found plenty under pressure to holds off Surprise Purchase (Nathan Ford).
James Johnson drove a heady race on Topoftheclouds to win the fourth heat. After drawing the pole and leading easily, he took cover when attacked by Unrivalled (David Medhurst). With 200 metres to go, Johnson eased off the back of Unrivalled and won by three metres with a gap back to the others.
The series concludes with heats five and six at The TOTE Racing Centre (Launceston) on Sunday night. Heat five is Race 2 at 5.31 pm and heat six is Race 6 at 7.05 pm.