Tasracing

The last of the Tasmanian Country Cups for the summer season will be held at Carrick Park today where a small but select field will take part in the $12,000 Page Transport Carrick Cup.

Only six runners will contest the 2650-metre feature including three cup winners from this season.

Mister Gently, from the Craig Hayes stable, will start the race favourite after a brilliant first-up effort on 31 January when scoring in the Burnie Cup.

Driver Gareth Rattray got the pacer away well from outside of the front line and was untroubled to score by 3.5 metres in a mile rate of 2m 6.5s for the 2789-metre trip.

The lightly-raced gelding has never missed a place in 11 career starts.

Locally trained pacer, Tisu Spirit, is another country cup winner, with the Mark Yole-trained six-year-old gelding taking out this year’s North Eastern Pacing Cup which was staged at the Carrick Park track due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The winner of 12 races had to work early to find the lead on that occasion and was too strong late, fighting off challenges of Kardesler and Be Major Threat.

Tisu Spirit has been placed in two of his three outings since, including a third in the Group 3 Devonport Pacing Cup.

Another Cup winner from this summer is the Ben Yole-trained James Dean.

The one-time emergency for the New Zealand Cup was first up in the state on 25 January where he scored a 10.9-metre win in the New Norfolk Pacing Cup, which was once again held in Hobart.

The seven-year-old gelding will appreciate a drop in class after going around in two discretionary Handicaps where he finished down the track, but has the services today of this season’s leading driver Troy McDonald.

Today’s seven-race card commences at 3:50 pm and also features the Tasmanian Harness Racing Yearling Sale that will be held between races six and seven.

There will be no off-track betting, telecast or TasracingTV Live Stream coverage of the meeting, but off-track broadcast is available on City Park Radio.

The coverage, which won Harness Racing Australia’s Best Harness Racing Radio Feature in 2019, will be hosted by David Mohr and Adrian Collins who will take you through the day at the races on 103.7FM and 96.5FM in Launceston and surrounding areas. The broadcast is also available online at cityparkradio.com.

There will be no TAB wagering on interstate races for those attending today due to circumstances outside of the club’s control, but there will be two bookmakers on track.

Watch Mister Gently prove too good for his rivals in the Burnie Cup: