Ignatius too strong in Hobart Free For All

Ignatius continued on his winning way in Hobart on Sunday night when he took out the open class event on the nine-race card.

The Roll With Joe gelding sat outside the leader and second placegetter Ryley Major to defeat him by two-metres.

After a slow lead time for an open class of 35.1s and a first quarter of 32.2s the pace quickened over the final 1200 metres in quarters of 30.0s, 28.2s and 27.7s for a mile rate of 1m 58.0s.

Call Me Hector, who ended up behind the leader, was a further 7.4 metres away third.

Ignatius was driven by Gareth Rattray who was replacing regular driver and trainer Todd Rattray who is currently serving a driving suspension.

“He went terrific racing outside Ryley Major in what was a strong last half mile, and he ran through the line well,” said Todd Rattray about the win.

“He has pulled up well and hasn’t stopped running around in his paddock this morning,” added the trainer.

It was a great entree to a host of feature races over the upcoming months in Tasmania including the heats and final of the $30,000 Tassie Golden Apple in December. Then in January, the state has the $25,000 Hobart Pacing Cup and the $30,000 Devonport Pacing Cup, with some Victorian trainers indicating strong interest for these races.

Todd indicated he might look at a regular free for all in Hobart in two weeks, before the heats of the Golden Apple in Launceston the following week.

The win of Ignatius was a part of a driving double for Gareth Rattray who scored on Bonacci earlier on in the night.

He now has a two-win lead for the state’s drivers title on 67 over Rohan Hillier and Conor Crook on 65, followed by Ricky Duggan 61 and Mark Yole 60.

Earlier in the night, Jakes A Joy chalked up his second win of the weekend, after scoring in Burnie on Friday, winning a rating 50 to 54 event.

It was the fourth win in a row for the Mister Big gelding who had a lovely three-wide cart into the race.

Another pacer to make it four wins in a row was Victoria Pass who was too strong for his rivals after working forward to race outside the leader in the middle stages of the race.