29 September 2021 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
Carrick reinsman Mark Yole, had a night out in Hobart on Tuesday evening with a driving double on the seven-race card, which saw the driver record his 600th career driving win.
Yole achieved the feat when scoring on the Zeke Slater-trained Navua Pixie in the Shamrock Hotel Pace.
Sent out as the $3.90 favourite, Navua Pixie was positioned one-out and five-back from her second-row draw before gaining a three-wide cart into the race from the 1200-metre point.
Yole asked the pacer for the supreme effort from the 600m with the daughter of Rock N Roll Heaven sustaining the long run to go on and score by 4.2 metres over Got The Goods and Mach Charm in a mile rate of 2m 2.1s for the 2090-metre event.
It was the second win of the season for Navua Pixie, who scored in Hobart at her most recent start on 19 September.
The Slater and Yole combination were in the winners circle earlier in the night with Livingontheedge who scored in the Diamond Solutions Tasmania Pace.
Things didn’t go to plan early when the pacer was crossed in the early stages from his pole draw in the mile event.
But when the leader, Border Cross, had a gear malfunction at the bell disrupting the chances of $3.20 favourite Squatter Shannon, Livingontheedge was able to slip through and gain the lead and proved too strong for his rivals over the concluding stages in 1m 59.3s.
Ben Yole prepared a double on the card with Stylish Trend and Major Lester, but one of the most impressive winning performances of the night came in the way of Roquefort Cheese who came from back second-last before sustaining a long run from the 600m to score by an ever-increasing 20.5m.
It was the third start in the state for the daughter of Betterthancheddar, who is prepared by Rodney Ashwood, with the Brighton based trainer also taking the drive.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
