TRAINER-DRIVER Rohan Hillier admitted he tipped his new stable tenant Waiona to anyone who asked him for a tip and the seven-year-old gelding never let him down.
Waiona was making his Tasmanian debut in the Big Park Show Cup at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston and despite his trainer-driver’s confidence he was sent around at the lucrative price of $12 and never looked like being beaten
Waiona stepped brilliantly from his front-row draw and once in front he set a solid pace and went to the line virtually untouched to defeat Beef City Beau by three metres with the race favourite Tanabi Bromac a short half-head away third.
It was the 100th running of the Show Cup and it was fitting that the time honored event was won by a member of the Hillier family that has been a name synonymous with harness racing in Tasmania for decades.
Hillier said Waiona’s trackwork was so good in the week leading up to the race that he was extremely confident he would win.
“This horse’s work during the week had been as good as I’ve had a horse work – I tipped him to everyone,” Hillier said.
“When I first got him, he hadn’t had a break for probably 18 months and, although he was going half-OK, I tipped him out and he’s come back really good.”
“Even though he was a claimer in Victoria I think he’s better than that.”
“But, now that he’s won this race, I can probably drop him back to claimers again because he’s basically paid for himself,” he said.
Waiona ran home his last half-mile (800m) in 57.8 seconds that made it very difficult for any of the preferred back markers to come from behind and win.
“It’s usually too hard for horses to come from behind in these 2200-metre stands at this level, especially when you can zip home in under 58 seconds,” he said.
The Danbury Park Cup to be run in Launceston next month is a possible target for Waiona.
“He’d probably get a 10-metre handicap in the Danbury Park Cup but that’s not to say he couldn’t win off that mark – I’ll see what happens,” the trainer said.