Harness racing in Tasmania was back with a bang on Sunday night with a mammoth 10-race card that was conducted in strong wind and light rain conditions.
This week we have two meetings with a seven-race card in Hobart on Friday night at Tier 2 level before a strong Tier 1 meeting in Launceston on Sunday night.
The Stars
Ricky Duggan – became the first Tasmanian driver to record 1,700 wins. There was a bit of confusion around what pacer gave him the feat, but most will claim it was Watchmylips in Hobart and the way the New Norfolk based driver was driving before the shutdown, there is no doubt he will become the first Tasmanian reinsman to reach 2,000 victories over the next few seasons.
Mark Yole – leads the states driving Premiership by one win after a double in Hobart on Sunday night. One of those winners was Salvator Mundi who was having his Tasmanian debut, Mark also trains the Art Major entire.
No Spring Secrets winning in Hobart on 14 June.
Conor Crook – is another driver in contention for the states drivers title, the Beaconsfield reinsman moved to fifth position on the table after a double on Sunday including the fast class race of the night with No Spring Secrets.
Geoff Smith – started the resumption of racing with a training double. The Northdown trainer prepared Midair Meltdown to victory at odds of $17 before Chris Be Quick raced up to a good recent trial effort at odds of $15.
Paul Hill – dubbed the king of the kids after a brilliant record in two-year-old races over many years reminded us all why he has that title when the well-backed Rocknovertime (pictured) blitzed his rivals to score in the opening race on the Hobart card for the two-year-old’s.
Multiple Winners
Hobart – Sunday evening
Ben Yole – training double: Pink Ponder and Altana Blue.
Mark Yole – driving double: Salvator Mundi and Pink Ponder.
Rohan Hillier – training double: Lip Reader and Giftofjoy.
Conor Crook – driving double; No Spring Secrets and Giftofjoy.
Geoff Smith – training double; Midair Meltdown and Chris Be Quick.
Todd Rattray – driving double; Midair Meltdown and Chris Be Quick.
Calculated Sectional Standouts
Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.
Hobart – Sunday evening
Call Me Hector 56.50s, No Spring Secrets 56.62s, Star Chamber 56.84s, Blackbird Power 56.91s and Lip Reader 57.03s.
View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.
Tasracing Official Price
Hobart – Sunday evening
Hit’s: Rocknovertime $21.00 into $7.50, Watchmylips $2.00 into $1.55, Lip Reader $1.65 into $1.35, Salvator Mundi $3.50 into $2.60, Giftofjoy $1.55 into $1.40 and Chris Be Quick $18.00 into $15.00.
Defied The Drift: No Spring Secrets $6.00 out to $10.00, Pink Ponder $9.00 out to $12.00 and Altana Blue $5.00 out to $6.50.
Missed: Statement Please $5.50 into $4.40, Cool Water Paddy $1.75 into $1.24, Feel The Burn $4.40 into $3.50, Alaphilippe $2.90 into $2.60 and Juniper $3.10 into $2.80.
Trial File
Launceston – Saturday morning
Devonport Cup winner Illegal Immigrant kicked off his preparation with an all the way win in the fast class trial of the morning.
Trainer Troy Hillier drove the pacer to a 1.9-metre win over Prosecution Witness and El Jays Mystery in the three-horse trial.
The mile rate was 2m 1.6s, with the last two quarters recorded in 29.1s and 27.9s
Other winners included; Cedric Seymour (2m 3.1s), Rocknroll Curly (2m 7.1s), Hez The One (2m 1.1s) and Hear The Call (2m 1.1s).
Hobart – Sunday afternoon
One trial was staged before the first race.
Spooky Girl, a three-year-old filly by Safe and Sound jogged around in front in quarters of 32.5s, 37.0s, 33.1s and 20.6s to win the trial by 2.7-metres over stablemate Sasogo, with Galaxy Dancer 2.3-metres away third.
The time for the mile was 2m 13.4s.
Trial Replays
You can view all of the trials over the past few weeks by clicking here.
Week Ahead
For those that like to play the multiple bet types on the local tote, there has been a change on the races certain bet types cover.
For Tasmanian harness racing, provided there are eight races, the Quadrella moves to races five through to eight, regardless of the meeting being held during the afternoon or evening.
The Daily Double moves to races five and seven, the treble on races six through eight while the Extra Double has been abolished.
Hobart on Friday night is the state’s first meeting of the weekend.
Race seven on the card is the first race for trotters since the resumption of racing.
The race will start from behind the mobile as opposed to the standing start, which we have become used to for the trotters.
Marc Butler will play a strong hand in the race with two runners including Armchair Drive who won at his only start in the state on 27 March where he led all the way.
The gelded son of The Warp Drive won six of his 47 starts before arriving in the state.
Butler also prepares One Yankee Ginga who has won two out of his last five starts.
However, the Cr Commando gelding is yet to be placed in five career starts.
The first of seven races will commence at 17:45 with the meeting to be shown on Sky Racing 2 and TasracingTV.
Launceston is the venue for Sunday night racing.
The two-year-old crop this season looks to be strong if recent trials are anything to go by.
This week’s two-year-old race features Bridwood Bella who has won two from two at the trials including a 24.5-metre win on 6 June where she recorded a mile rate of 1m 59.4s and a final section of 27.7s.
De Marco Beach has drawn wide in Sunday’s race but has shown improvement in her two recent trials, the most recent was an all the way win on 6 June in 2m 3.5s.
Another trial winner in the race is Stormy Sanz who won a Launceston trial on 23 May before finishing third to Cedric Seymour on 13 June.
Race one commences at 16:50 and will be shown on Sky Racing 2 with the remainder on Sky Racing 1.
All races will be shown on TasracingTV, which will be live hosted with the recommencement of participant interviews.
Some Tasmanian pacers doing battle over the next few days include;
Shepparton – Friday night
Race 1 Horse 11 Bootleg Bert.
Race 5 Horse 1 Streitkid.
Race 7 Horse 10 Blingittothemax.
Menangle – Saturday night
Race 7 Horse 1 Timely Sovereign and 6 No Apachemee.
Cranbourne – Sunday
Race 4 Horse 10 Sutter Star.