News Article

Star Chamber has tough mark in Devonport Cup

08 / 03 / 2015 Article by: TR Internal
Star Chamber with Nathan Ford aboard wins Hobart Pacing Cup icon Click to enlarge

RECENT Tasmania and Hobart Pacing Cup winner Star Chamber will have to overcome a 30-metre handicap to make a clean sweep of the major cups so far run this season when he steps off the back mark in the Hardings Hotmix Devonport Cup over 3020 metres at Devonport tonight.

Star Chamber scored a brilliant win in the $40,000 Tasmania Cup in Hobart in December and the next month he won a heat and the $20,000 final of the Hobart Pacing Cup at the same venue.

The Nathan Ford-trained gelding then ventured to Melbourne where he tackled the Shepparton Cup but nothing panned out as planned on that venture so he returned to Tasmania to prepare for tonight’s race and the Easter Cup in Launceston next month.

Star Chamber is usually very safe from a standing start so Ford is likely to let his stable star travel at or near the rear of the field with the hope of getting into the race with cover.

He will then save the gelded son of Our Sir Vancelot for one sharp sprint to the line but that’s not an easy task on the tight Devonport Showground circuit.

Whodeani is very good from a stand so his front-row draw (4) should enable driver Gareth Rattray to seek the lead and if that eventuates the Art Major gelding could be hard to run down even over the marathon 3020-metre trip.

Riverboat Jasper, Black Centurian, The Majority and Sky Tower all loom as logical dangers.

The race is scheduled to start at 8.57 pm.