It may have been the young horses on show in Hobart on Sunday evening, but it was two veteran reinsmen demonstrating their ability to rate their horses in front in the heats of colts and geldings Sweepstakes series.
John Walters drove Stormy Sanz to an all the way victory in the opening heat while Paul Hill rated Rocknovertime to score in heat two.
Gareth Rattray also showed his ability of rating horses in front in the fillies prelude with Melnrowley.
Troy McDonald celebrated his birthday in style with a driving treble, continuing his good recent form, while Conor Crook trained and drove the winner of the David Medhurst Memorial with the kiwi import Loch Ness Franco.
This week we see former Tasmanian Horse of the year Ignatius return to the state and contest a free-for-all race in Launceston where he takes on Call Me Hector, who holds the Tasmanian mile record and progressive stars Lip Reader and The Shallows.
The race is the last event under 2000 metres for the remainder of the year for the open class pacers.
The Stars
Rocknovertime – trainer Paul Hill has been dubbed the “king of the kids” for many years now given his excellent record in two and three-year-old races. Rocknovertime looks like he may be able to add a feature race or two this season to Hill’s resume after his impressive heat win in the colts and geldings Sweepstakes, where he led all the way to record the quickest mile rate of the two heats in 1m 59.0s.
Rocknovertime wins in Hobart on 13 September.
Melnrowley – proved she is a strong contender for the Sweepstakes fillies final when she scored a 7.9-metre win, leading all the way from her outside of the front-row draw. The Craig Hayes-trained pacer showed a good turn of speed late to score in a 27.2s last quarter.
Stormy Sanz– was forced to do a bit of work to hold the lead in a 28.6s opening quarter and still had the sprint in him to run home in a 27.8s final section to win his fourth race in a row in heat one of the colts and geldings Sweepstakes.
Troy McDonald – once again was the in-form driver of the meeting with a treble on the card scoring with Hezatoff at each-way odds, Punchinello and Tarleton Riley giving him plenty to celebrate on his 28th birthday.
Lochness Franco – handled her maiden rivals with ease at her Australian debut in the David Medhurst Memorial on Sunday. The Conor Crook-trained and driven mare had been placed in two of her three starts in New Zealand and was too good late to score.
Castor Troy – after a dominant win in Launceston on Wednesday the gelded son of Aces N Sevens made it two wins for the week with a narrow victory on Sunday. The Ray Pullen-trained and driven pacer had to survive a protest for his 10th career win.
Multiple Winners
Hobart – Sunday evening
Troy McDonald – driving treble; Hezatoff, Punchinello and Tarleton Riley.
Ben Yole – training treble; Hezatoff, Punchinello and Tarleton Riley.
Calculated Sectional Standouts
Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.
Hobart – Sunday evening
Agouda Ruler and Lockaway Kacie both 57.76s, Albayzin 57.82s, Loch Ness Franco 57.90s and Damitsam 57.92s
View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.
Tasracing Official Price
Hobart – Sunday evening
David Medhurst Memorial Presentation to winning connections of Loch Ness Franco.
Hit’s: Loch Ness Franco $1.60 into $1.24, Melnrowley $9.50 into $4.20, $4.60 into $3.40, Hezatoff $41 into $26, Punchinello $8.50 into $7.50, Rocknovertime $1.90 into $1.40 and Tarleton Riley $12 into $10.
Defied The Drift: Stormy Sanz $3.30 out to $3.80 and Castor Troy $2.80 out to $4.40.
Missed: Agouda Ruler $4.00 into $3.50, My Celebrity $3.30 into $2.30, Always A Stride $15 into $9.50, War Chest $4.40 into $3.70, The Neptune Kid $5.50 into $4.20, and Upanatom 45.00 into $3.50.
Trial File
Carrick Park – Saturday morning
Five trials were staged on Saturday morning where two-year-old Tommy Hillfigure recorded the quickest winning mile rate of the session in the opening trial.
A solid tempo was set early, with the first half of the final mile recorded in 62.1s with Tommy Hillfigure settling in third position with the field well spread out for a large portion of the 1670-metre trial.
The gelding was too good for his rivals late in a 61.7s last half mile.
Tommy Hillfigure is by A Rocknroll Dance and is out of Shez Ryleymak which makes him a half-brother to Ryley Major and he looks all dressed up and ready to go to the races in the coming weeks.
Other winners included; Lily Rocks (2m 5.0s), Karalta Courage (2m 12.0s), Blundell (2m 9.5s) and The Floyd (2m 6.6s).
Trial Replays
You can view most trials since the resuming from the COVID break by clicking here.
Week Ahead
As mentioned, Ignatius is back in Tasmania after doing his previous racing in New South Wales and he lines up in the Impress Print Free For All on Sunday night in Launceston.
The gelded son of Roll With Joe has won 20 of his 39 starts and he hasn’t been seen in the state since winning a Carrick Park trial on 22 December 2018, with his last race start in Tasmania being a victory in Launceston in January 2018.
This season he has won two of his 12 starts with a best winning mile rate of 1m 51.0s that he recorded three starts ago.
His rivals this week include Call Me Hector, who is a speed machine and he holds the Tasmanian state record of 1m 54.3s.
No doubt his trainer-driver will make the most of Hector’s biggest asset, his speed, in the last sprint race of the year with all remaining open class races for the year scheduled for 2090 metres or further.
Other contenders in the event include The Shallows and Lip Reader who are both progressive talents as they continue their rise through the national rating system.
The Launceston card commences with the 6ty° Two-Year-Old where Bridwood Bella reruns to the track after breaking the Two-year-old fillies state record when she ran 1m 57.4s on debut in June.
She has had one trial in the lead up to Sunday’s assignment where she broke free of interference soon after the start at Carrick Park on 29 August.
Race one on Sunday will be televised on Sky Racing 2 with the last eight races on Sky Racing 1.
All races will be telecast on TasracingTV and Sky Racing Active.
Some Tasmanian pacers doing battle over the next few days at metropolitan venues include;
Menangle – Saturday night
Race 3 Horse 10 Harjeet.
Race 8 horse 3 No Apachemee.
Bendigo (Metro meeting) – Saturday night
Race 1 Horse 11 Blingittothemax.
Race 5 Horse 11 Terryrama.