In Brief
- Injured driver back in winners stall as a trainer.
- Wattabout Spangher possibly aimed at country cups.
- Call Me Hector upsets Ryley Major.
Two weeks ago Brighton based trainer-driver Adrian Duggan was involved in a nasty race fall in Launceston, and on Sunday he was back in the winner’s circle at the same venue when Wattabout Spangher ($26) scored in the Tassie Wash Pace.
Adrian’s brother Ricky took the reins on the five-year-old gelding who began well to settle outside the leader in the 2200-metre standing start event.
The Stonebridge Regal gelding was in for the fight in the home straight late with Tisu Spirit (second) and Prosecution Witness (third) all pulling away from their remaining rivals.
Adrian, who was discharged from hospital on Monday, wasn’t trackside for the win, instead being restricted to the recliner at home resting his leg where he received multiple fractures from the fall, was delighted with the win.
“Ricky got him away well to sit outside the leader and keep him out of trouble in the run,” said Adrian.
“Sitting here with Amanda (Adrian’s wife) I was hoping that they bowled along, so those that missed the start didn’t tack on,” explained the trainer.
Wattabout Spangher moves to a rating of 64 with the trainer looking ahead to some country cups over the festive period.
“If we can keep him stepping away like he is, then some of the country cups will be good options for him,” said Adrian.
“He is a good sit and sprint horse, but he had to do a bit of work tonight which was good to see as well,” added the trainer.
Duggan acknowledged the work of several people that have helped his stable out in recent weeks saying that “they all know who they are.”
There are no certainties in racing and punters learned that the hard way when Ryley Major was defeated as a $1.22 favourite in the Elders Insurance Launceston Free For All.
It was the Matthew Cooper-trained and driven Call Me Hector leading all the way to score at $19.
Many expected Cooper to lead and bowl along, well he did lead but instead Cooper put the brakes on running a slow 47.1s lead time before running quarters of 31.9s, 30.2s, 29.0s and 27.7s for a slow mile rate of 2m 1.4s on a rain-affected track.
“I know he has a 56s last half-mile in him, and I thought if I could slow them down early, they would find it hard to catch him,” explained trainer-driver Matthew Cooper after the win.
“It worked out well tonight when I looked across and seen that we ran a 31.9s first quarter that things were looking pretty good here when you run along you make it easy for those backmarkers to get into the race,” added the Oatlands based horseman.