ILLINGWORTH Classic winner Kalaway Ernie Should make amends for his last start failure at Devonport with a win in a grade four event over 515 metres at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston tonight.
Kalaway Ernie has been in scintillating form winning a heat and final of the Illingworth Classic before scoring impressively in a heat of the Country Derby at Devonport.
He copped bad interference in the final to finish out the back but his trainer Butch Deverell is confident he can bounce back into the winner’s circle tonight.
“We just have to pout a line through his last start because the dog inside of him wanted to get to the outside and a couple on his outside pushed down to the fence and he became the meat in the sandwich and got spat out the back,” Deverell said.
“He drew box three that day and had he drawn out wide it would have been a completely different story.”
“But that’s racing and we have to move on. I think he only has to stay out of trouble to win tonight,” he said.
Talented bitch That Was Then represents a real danger to the likely favourite.
That Was Then, prepared by Gaylene Townsend, has struck a purple patch of form of late winning at Devonport and with second placings either side of that victory from her past three starts.
Tonight she will wear the check vest and provided she shows the early brilliance of recent start she should be very hard to run down.
Kalaway Ernie was nominated for a heat of the Tasmanian Derby tonight but as only 11 dogs were nominated for the elite race series the heats were cancelled and the Derby will be run as a best eight next Monday night.
The 2 & 7 looks the likely quinella.
Related Links: