In Brief
- Smith, the sole north-west trainer in the coastal feature.
- Ryley Major early favourite from 30-metre back mark.
- The Cup is race seven on a 10-race card.
Former Victorian Pacer, The Crimson Prince, will be chasing Tasmanian feature race success when he lines up in Sunday night’s Group 3 Hardings Hotmix Devonport Pacing Cup at the Devonport Showgrounds.
Now trained by Geoff Smith, the five-year-old gelding is the sole north-west coast trained runner in the $30,000 feature.
The pacer has won three races at metropolitan level in the past 12-months including a metro claiming event at Ballarat on 26 December. He then contested the Hobart Pacing Cup the following week where he finished down the track behind Star Chamber.
“One of my mates owns the caravan park at Ulverstone and he said about two months ago that he was going to buy a horse, he pointed this horse out, and we kept an eye on him and I spoke to a few people over there, and he ended up coming down to a suitable price, so he purchased him,” explained Smith.
“He is a fine horse, and it took him a day to get over the trip over on the boat, and we were unsure on what gear to put on him, said Smith about the pacers most recent effort.
The gelded son of Betterthancheddar has won 10 of his 32 starts, with only one of those efforts being in a standing start race back in 2018.
“We stood him up at home this week, and he flew away, he did it brilliantly once, and we never gave him another ago as I didn’t want to bugger him up,” said Smith.
The trainer admits he is concerned about the pacers first try over the 3020-metre distance but was impressed with the pacers work during the week.
“He worked good during the week and we have Gareth Rattray on, and he can get three lengths out of a horse that others can’t,” said the Northdown based trainer.
The horse to beat according to early markets is the 30-metre backmarker Ryley Major.
Trained and driven by Rohan Hillier, Ryley Major looks nicely handicapped in the long-distance event.
Now an eight-year-old, Ryley Major has won 30 of his 48 starts including two wins from two starts on the Devonport track.
Sunday’s Devonport meeting also sees the running of the Dash For Cash, the Mares Incentive and the Coastal Pacing Thousand.
Race one will be televised on Sky Racing 2, with the last nine races to be shown on Sky Racing 1.
Matt Reid will host TasracingTV’s on track coverage, with the first race scheduled for 17:19.
Tickets for the meeting can be purchased at goracingtasmania.com.au
Watch Ryley Major finish second in the Hobart Pacing Cup on 3 January.