In Brief
- Crosswell is chasing more silverware in Group 3.
- Cannan and Abela with two runners each.
- Cant make it? Catch the action on TasracingTV.
Hall of fame trainer David Crosswell has trained a host of feature races, and the trainer will be hoping to add today’s Group 3 Ladbrokes Devonport Chase
Highland Chief wins a heat for the Devonport Chase on 17 November.
to his glowing resume.
Crosswell won the race when it was called the Devonport Cup back in 1996 with Gingers Charm, and is represented in this years $25,000 to the winner final by Highland Chief who has won his last three starts.
Highland Chief’s most recent victory was last week in his heat where he defeated Victorian hope Run And Carry by two lengths in 25.48s. Crosswell believes this year’s final is a very open event.
“It is a pretty even field, every one of them can break 26.00 seconds, and there’s a few in there that can break 25.30s, so it makes for an interesting race,” said Crosswell.
Today’s race sees a lot of early speed, and as Tasracing form guru Mike Clarke pointed out in his assessment of the race, Highland Fame has broken six seconds for his first section in his last six tries on the coastal venue.
Tasracing’s individual splits are recorded at 84 metres, differing from the official results.
“He ran 7:89 his (official) first split last week which was the quickest of the heats, but he got a clear run, whether he gets a clear run early on Tuesday is going to be the big question,” explained the trainer.
When asked to name one as the hardest to beat, Crosswell named the Aston Dee Bee – She’s All Class litter mate Wynburn Sheean from box eight.
“His brother will be the hardest to beat, there may be a bit of a mix up with a few on the inside, a few want to rail, and a few like to get up the track, so I think the winner is going to come from out wide,” said Crosswell.
Wynburn Sheean is the only north-west coast chaser in the field, for Wynyard trainer Ben Englund.
Debbie Cannan has a two-prong attack in the final with Siberia (box two) and Kintyre (box five), while Victorian trainer Paul Abela also has two finalists in Zevatron (box one) and Aston Pilsner (box seven).
The quickest heat winner was Sprint Gordan from the Blake Pursell kennel in 25.45s and has drawn box three.
Gypsies Luck (box four) from the Anthony Bullock kennel is the only bitch in the field and is the outsider of the field in early markets.
Entry to today’s meeting is free, and if you can’t make it trackside, you can catch all of the action from the track on TasracingTV with Matt Reid and Brennan Ryan heading up the coverage.
Start times for the meeting were brought forward at the request of Sky Racing yesterday morning, with the amended start times below.
R1; 11:55
R2; 12:12
R3; 12:34
R4; 12:53
R5; 13:13
R6 Angus Evans Memorial Devonport Chase Consolation; 13:33
R7; 13:53
R8 Ladbrokes Devonport Chase; 14:12
R9; 14:47
R10; 15:07
Watch Sprint Gordan from box two record the quickest of last weeks eight heats: