28 February 2020 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
Wesley Vale trainer John Castles will take two horses to the Devonport Showgrounds this afternoon and both are not only last-start winners, owned and bred by Larry and Liz Nichols but the two horses are also full relations by Betterthancheddar out of former Tasmanian Oaks winner High Flying Ruler.
Two-year-old gelding Agouda Ruler broke his maiden in Launceston last start where not only did he take home $5,500 in prize money for his owner-breeders but he also pocketed them an extra $10,000 by being eligible for his Tasbred bonus.
Although recording the win by 5.2 metres in a mile rate of 2m 1.6s the pacer was inclined to over-race in the 1680 metre event giving his driver a torrid drive, but trainer John Castles hopes to have the problem resolved today when he lines up in the opening race, the Ladbrokes Mobile.
“He hit the wheels, so we will have them in a longer clip tonight,” said Castles.
The gelding who will be having his fourth career start tonight has taken improvement in each start, but it was the pacers second trial where he started to impress his trainer.
“It was his second trial where he started to show a bit of form, although he didn’t beat many home, he went to the line strongly and we went home thinking that was a good effort,” said the Wesley Vale based Castles.
Aguoda Ruler only has three other rivals to contend with in the Ladbrokes Mobile over 1930 metres.
“We have given him a little bit of a freshen up, so he goes into this race off a lighter preparation,” explained the trainer.
Agouda Ruler’s full sister Resolute Ruler (pictured) lines up in the third race of the card, the Maxfield Drilling Pace for horses with a national rating of 54 to 57 over 2297 metres.
The four-year-old mare won a prelude of the Bandbox in Launceston last season at $101.00 and goes into today’s race on the back of winning two of her past three starts including a handy win at Carrick Park last start on 15 February.
“She has more ability than we have been able to get out of her, from her time as a two-year-old she impressed us on the track but never impressed us on race day the same way,” said Castles.
Today’s Devonport card kicks off with the first of eight greyhound races that commence at 15:06 with the harness card overlapping from 16:41.
All races from both codes will be shown on Sky Racing 2 and TasracingTV.
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