Tasracing

The female drivers came to the fore in Devonport on Friday with the girls winning three of the seven races held on the combined harness and greyhound program.

Hannah Van Dongen extended her lead at the top of the female driver’s premiership with a driving double on the card.

The first win for the Carrick based driver came aboard the Juanita McKenzie trained Thomas Burns in the Hardings Hotmix Mobile over 2297 metres.

From the pole draw, Thomas Burns eased from $1.85 out to $2.05 and when the gelded son of Shadow Play held the lead, he was always going to be hard to beat.

“There was a little bit of pressure driving such a short price favourite, but he showed good speed to lead and once I got some cheap sectionals early, I was extremely confident mid-race,” said Van Dongen about the win.

After running the first half of the last mile in 63.6s the pacer let down over the final 800 metres of the race to record the quickest last half mile of the meeting in 57.8s.

“I didn’t even have to turn the whip around on him nor pull the plugs,” said the winning driver about 23.7-metre victory over Pink Ponder who was driven by Samantha Gangell to make it a quinella for the Team Teal girls.

Van Dongen then backed up in the next event to score on the $4.80 second-favourite Castor Troy in the Austar Freight Trainer Encouragement Pace, a rating 50 or better standing start event over 2286 metres.

“He surprised me a little bit,” said Van Dongen.

“I thought that once Brookwillrock found the lead she got an easy run after that, but my old boy kept whacking away late,” added the driver about the seven-year-old gelding who is trained at Brighton by Ray Pullen.

The other female driver to register a win last night was Taylor Ford who scored on the Ben Yole trained Artiflash in the Collins Homes Pace.

The female drivers across Australia have so far registered over 190 winners during this year’s Team Teal campaign with the promotion concluding on 15 March, with the Australian Female Drivers Championship meeting in early April to be included.

Every female driver that wins a race in Tasmania sees Tasracing donate $200 to the Australian New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group.

“I always enjoy getting a winner but it’s always good during the Team Teal promotion knowing that there is $200 going to a good cause,” said Hannah who has won five races during this year’s promotion.

Gareth Rattray was the standout driver on Friday night’s card with a driving treble through wins aboard Agouda Ruler, War Dan Star and Ideal Karalta.