In Brief
- Crook has a night out.
- Hillier gets extra spending money for his holiday.
- Laid Back Kenny continues good run for trainer Geoff Smith.
Last season’s leading junior driver Conor Crook had a night out in Launceston Friday when he drove a treble on the seven-race card.
The reinsman has been left in charge of the Rohan Hillier stable while he enjoys a short holiday and he ensured that his boss had a bit of extra spending money on his trip away.
Crook was able to guide five-year-old gelding Lip Reader to victory in the first heat of the Harry Holgate Memorial.
From barrier six Crook positioned the gelded son of Sportswriter one-out and five back before leading up the three-wide line over the final 1100-metres.
“He has good gate speed but we decided to go back and look after him to some degree when there was no speed I thought I would get up there while I could and he was bolting at the 400 (metre mark) and put them away easy,” said the winning driver after the race.
It was the tenth career win at start 45 for the pacer who was having his second start in the Rohan Hillier stable.
“That’s the first time I have driven him, I haven’t even sat behind him at home, but he feels like he is a nice enough horse and that he will be competitive in the final,” said Crook.
Lip Reader scored by 11-metres over the outsider of the field Arctic with the second elect Vouvray Beach 2.9-metres away third.
Resurgent Storm who lead most of the way went onto win the second heat in a mile rate of 2m 0.4s.
The $12,000 Final will be held in Launceston on 9 February.
Crook teamed up with the Hillier stable to score in the Tasmanian Horse Transport Pace with 11-year-old gelding Monarkmac.
From outside of the front-row Crook was able to position the pacer one-out and one-back soon after the start where he was able to sit off a solid tempo.
“He had to win after the run he had but he didn’t want to win,” said the driver.
The veteran pacer scored by a half neck over Heza Rummage with the favourite Rollon Jack third.
The last win of Crook’s treble came in the 6ty° Stakes with Laid Back Kenny who is a member of the inform Geoff Smith stable.
Sitting one-out and two-back Crook peeled the gelded son of Mister Big three-wide at the 450-metre mark where he showed a good turn of speed to put his rivals away.
“He is a very speedy little horse and feels that if you don’t use him off the gate he seems to hit the line well,” said Crook who was full of praise for the effort of trainer Geoff Smith.
Laid Back Kenny has now recorded back to back wins with his 9.3-metre win over Mach Charm being his fourth career win.