26 June 2018 | Shane Yates
Former star juvenile Scooterwillrev returned to his brilliant best in Launceston on Sunday night with a runaway victory in the Longford Equine Clinic Stakes.
The Craig Hayes-trained Somebeachsomewhere-Karamea Toastime four-year-old was backed off the map by punters who snapped up the early fixed odds on offer of $3 and they were still taking $1.60 as the field scored up behind the mobile.
“It’s great to have him back in the winner’s list for the first time this season, he hasn’t had a lot of luck this campaign but he scored impressively which is good to see,” said Craig.
“He won 12 of 16 starts last season as a three-year-old last season and he came back well but things just haven’t gone his way.”
Scooterwillrev returned from a nine-month layoff with a first-up placing behind No Spring Secrets before galloping in a stand start event at Devonport.
“It was a surprise to see him out of his gear at Devonport and we went over him with a fine tooth comb in the week after the race looking for a problem but we couldn’t find anything,”said the Stowport trainer.
“I backed his work off between then and his next start and I reckon he was underdone when he tired to finish third after sitting in the death outside Emma Stewart’s Another Safari and then last run he was hemmed in on the pegs before flashing through late in the race won by Plata O Plomo.”
Rohan Hadley took no chances with the heavily backed favourite over the 2200-metre trip sitting up in the breeze before dashing clear in the straight to record a 13.6-metre victory and recording a mile-rate of 1:57.8.
The State’s leading trainer Ben Yole showed no signs of being in the nervous nineties, winning three of the first four races on the card to take his Tasmanian winning tally for the season to 101.
Pushkin got the ball rolling in the first with a gutsy win from the death seat before No Apachemee made it back to back wins in Launceston with a powerful finishing burst to bring up the magical three figures before victory number 101 was racked up by Stylish Trend.
Rohan Hillier produced another potential topliner in Sheza Bettormak, the three-year-old Bettors Delight-Shez Ryleymak filly rolled to the top early and dictated terms before cruising to an 8.5-metre victory.
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