In Brief
- Gaffney taken a more measured approach to Deroche's first-up assignment.
- Blaze Forth has done plenty of work leading up to Goodwood.
- Secondover freshened for Goodwood.
Tasmania’s star sprinter Deroche makes her long-awaited return to racing in Hobart on Tuesday in the feature race the Goodwood Handicap over 1100 metres.
Deroche was one of the state’s best-performed three-year-olds last season, winning five of her seven starts including the Group 3 Vamos Stakes for fillies and mares over 1400m in Launceston.
Connections were keen to target the Newmarket Handicap and the Goodwood is the traditional lead-up to that race to be run in Launceston in three weeks.
The mare’s trainer Leanne Gaffney says Deroche should be very competitive first-up as her two trials on her home track in Devonport suggests she has come back better than ever.
Last season she was first-up in the 3YO Cup and that came on the back of a hard trial in Devonport and that obviously took the edge off the three-year-old and she failed to flatter in that race.
But what she did from them on was outstanding and had luck gone her way she would have won the Group 3 Bow Mistress (1200m) in Hobart instead of finishing a close second.
Gaffney has taken a more measured approach this time in, with two trials spaced apart and the latest two weeks ago.
Last season’s Conquering Stakes winner Blaze Forth also is using the race as a lead-up to the Newmarket and he trialled well, with a gallop in Launceston last week having him ready for a bold first-up showing.
Gee Gee Secondover contested many of the feature sprints last season and at his only start, this time in he was fifth and doing his best work late in an open handicap in Devonport over two months ago.
The Team Wells-trained gelding was second to Deroche in an 800-metre trial two weeks ago, beaten four lengths.
Aiden Nunn has opted to run his class one mare California Honey in the Goodwood instead of the class one over 1200m, so he obviously has high expectations for the four-year-old that campaigned in Queensland and New South Wales as she accompanied her trainer on a polo tour.
Nunn is a talented polo player who spends three months a year playing the polo circuit and takes a couple of his gallopers with him to try and pick up some prizemoney along the way.
It is an early start in Hobart on Tuesday with the first race set to start at 10:30 with the last of seven at 14:45, 15 minutes prior to the Melbourne Cup.
TasracingTV will live stream the meeting with Matt Reid as the host with the coverage to start from 10.15 am and continue through the program to the last at 14.45.
Trainers and riders will back up again in Launceston on Wednesday night for an eight-race program that will be broadcast on Sky 1 with the last five races also covered by Sky Thoroughbred Central, featuring full mounting yard as well as pre and post-race interviews and hosted by Pete Staples.
TasracingTV will also live stream the meeting with Matt Reid as host.
Watch Deroche win her most recent trial in Devonport.