Tasmanian country harness racing was at its best last weekend with a large crowd attending Sunday’s Burnie Cup which was won by the Craig Hayes-trained Mister Gently who was one of four winners on the card for reinsman Gareth Rattray.
Saturday saw the King Island Racing season come to a close where Karalta Kruise secured the horse of the year despite the winning bubble bursting on Saturday, his trainer John Rhodes and driver Wade Rattray secured the trainers and drivers premierships respectively.
Turning back to last Friday’s great card of racing held in Launceston with the Harry Holgate Memorial being won by the Todd Rattray-trained and driven pacer Kardar.
Launceston is once again the venue for harness racing on Friday night with a massive 10-race card.
There is no harness racing in the state on Sunday.
The Stars
Mister Gently – delivered trainer Craig Hayes his first hometown cup when scoring in Burnie on Sunday afternoon. The five-year-old gelding was first-up from a break and was well rated in front for driver Gareth Rattray.
Ben Yole – had a weekend out with three trained winners in Launceston and then a further four in Burnie. At the time of writing, Yole leads the national trainer’s premiership with 25 winners as we enter the second month of the season.
Gareth Rattray – had a day out in Burnie, not only did he score in the Burnie Cup but he also drove another three winners on the Burnie card which sees him move into fourth position on the states drivers title.
Gone And Forgotten – registered a comfortable 26-metre win on Sunday in Burnie continuing the good run for trainer Conor Crook and driver Rohan Hillier.
Kadar – took out the feature event in Launceston on Friday night, the Harry Holgate Memorial, capping off a good night for Todd Rattray who drove a treble on the card.
Multiple Winners
Launceston – Friday evening
Ben Yole – training treble; Liberal Arden, Border Cross and Evies Dressmaker.
Troy McDonald – driving double; Border Cross and Evies Dressmaker.
Todd Rattray – training and driving double; Bonacci and Kadar, he made it a driving treble with Aussie Rock.
Burnie – Sunday afternoon
Ben Yole – training quartet; Shes Worth It, Liberal Arden, Lake Eyre and Jo Dina.
Gareth Rattray – driving quartet; Shes Worth It, Liberal Arden, Lake Eyre and Mister Gently.
Calculated Sectional Standouts
Launceston – Friday evening
Lip Reader 55.71s, Bonacci 56.56s, Sea Double Ugrant 56.59s, Watchmylips 56.60s and Jo Dina 56.66s.
Burnie – Sunday afternoon
Unavailable.
View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.
Tasracing Official Price
Launceston – Friday evening
Hit’s: Liberal Arden $4.40 into $4.00, Watchmylips $2.00 into $1.80, Border Cross $9.50 into $6.50, Bonacci $7.50 into $6.50 and Aussie Rock $3.00 into $2.80.
Defied The Drift: Lip Reader $2.20 out to $2.80.
Missed: Good Feelings $14 into $9.00, Southern Gnp $13 into $7.00, Life A Jungle $12 into $8.00, Danger Of Tyne $8.00 into $6.50, James Dean $4.80 into $3.40.
Burnie – Sunday afternoon
Hit’s: Shes Worth It $9.50 into $4.80, Lake Eyre $11 into $8.50 and Mister Gently $3.50 into $2.70.
Defied The Drift: Liberal Arden $3.80 out to $5.00 and Jo Dina $3.40 out to $4.00.
Missed: Ozzie Major $2.80 into $1.85, Top Hanover $17 into $7.50, Heza Rummage $6.50 into $3.90, Northview Dave $3.70 into $3.30, Bettabrown Tiger $5.50 into $4.80 and Kikkimi $2.50 into $2.25.
Trial File
Hobart – Monday afternoon
Five trials were staged where the Roger Whitmore-trained gelding Resurgent Storm zoomed straight to the lead from barrier five in a rating 58 to 73 trial over 2090 metres.
After a lead time of 35.4s he ran quarters of 31.2s, 31.0s, 29.9s and 30.2s to register a 7.3-metre victory in a mile rate of 2m 1.4s.
Other winners included; Isaac 2m 7.8s, Hesnoprince 2m 7.4s, Iden Miss Lucy 2m 6.3s and A Good Red 2m 4.1s.
Carrick Park – Monday afternoon
Only six horses contested a total of two trials. Outlaw Joe raced behind the leader of the mile trip before peeling three-wide at the top of the home straight to score in the opening trial 2m 2.8s under a hold by driver Troy McDonald.
Lavaughn for trainer-driver Conor Crook led all the way to win the second trial in 2m 7.7s for the 2150-metre trip.
You can view the trials held on mainland Tasmania by clicking here.
Week Ahead
Launceston is the venue for harness racing on Friday night with a 10-race card to be staged.
The feature is race six, the Sunrise Bakery Launceston Discretionary where a field of eight will face the starter over the 2200-metre trip at 20:37.
The first eight races will be televised on Sky Racing 2 with the final two races to be shown on Sky Racing 1.
It is a monster weekend of harness racing over Friday and Saturday night at Victoria’s home of harness racing at Melton.
The feature pacing race of the weekend is Saturday nights $500,000 A. G. Hunter Cup where Tasmanian born reinsman Jack Laugher takes the reins on last start winner Better Be The Bomb in the Group 1 event.
There is plenty of Tasmanian interest in the Group 3 Pure Steel where Ryley Major will start from outside of the second-row, while Tasmanian owned Max Delight will be second-up in the race from barrier five.
As has been the case in recent months, Tasmanian born drivers Josh Duggan and Alex Ashwood are well represented with drives across the weekend.