TWO stars of a litter bred by Terry and Betty Penny look set to battle it out in a heat of the Illingworth Classic over 515 metres in Launceston tonight.
Keune and Penny’s Roman (Barcia Bale-Miss Roman Nose) have drawn boxes one and two respectively in the second (race 5) of three heats of one of the state’s most prestigious feature races.
Keune is the best-performed of the litter with 16 wins and three minor placings from 24 outings while Penny’s Roman has recently come into her own with career stats of 11 wins and as many minor placings from 31 starts but she broke the track record in Devonport last month clocking 24.95 over the 452-metre trip to become the first to beak 25 seconds.
Keune, prepared by Ted Medhurst, has a personal best on the Launceston circuit of 29.54 which she set in November last year while the Paul Hili-trained Penny’s Roman clocked 29.73 when he won a graded event on January 25 this year.
It would be hard to imagine a winner coming from any other than the two aforementioned sprinters.
Another litter sibling Katey Roman should be hard to beat in the third and final heat from box one.
Katey Roman is fresh from a win over Lorus Time and Penny’s Roman in Hobart last Thursday week and Lorus Time has ranked that form by scoring by a big margin in Hobart last Thursday night.
Wynburn Toozie (box 8), Basset (12) and Keep Ya Stripes loom as the main dangers.
The first heat (race 4) could also see a member of the Barcia Bale-Miss Roman Nose litter emerge triumphant in the form of Miss Stylist that has drawn well in box two and she is a winner of 12 of her 29 starts of which two have been on the Launceston rack from 11 tries.
The other man chances are Shing Lee (5), Turbo Riley (6) he’s All Class (7) and Supreme It Seems from box eight.