08 January 2024 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
Dylan Ford has started 2024 with a bang.
He has been on the winners list with a winning treble at Scottsdale on Friday and another treble in Hobart on Sunday.
The wins come on the back of driving 15 victories in December.
“I find that I drive well this time of the year every year as I’m not at work and I’m working horses every day. It sort of helps,” said Ford about his recent winning run.
The main win of his Hobart treble was aboard Lynryd Skynryd ($4.20) in the 2024 Brighton Cup (2090m).
From barrier three, Ford took the eight-year-old gelding straight to the lead and recorded a short half-head win over Mickey Oh ($1.75 fav) in 1:58.5s.
“He is a funny horse. He grows a leg when in front or outside the leader,” Ford said.
“Once Steve (Lukac) takes the winkers off him, and he can see them a bit, I think he will do more than hold his own in that grade. He can hear them coming a bit, but he waits for them to get to him.
“When he won Toreace Flying Mile, he looked gone and then clicked on, and then the same tonight.
“He looked gone but just kept kicking enough to hold off Mickey Oh.”
Ford made the race a survival of the fittest when running down the back in 27.4s, before a last quarter of 29.2s.
“When you’re in front and have good horses like that, you have got to try and make it mathematically impossible. Mickey Oh was still huge, but it’s hard to make ground when you are running those sectionals,” said the driver.
Ford’s other two winners were early on the program for his mother, Tammy Langley.
Mister Finnigan won his third race in his past five outings, leading most of the way in the Prydes Easifeed Pace (2090m) after being involved in a fast lead time of 32.9s.
“In the past, he has shown when he is in front that he is pretty hard to get past no matter what is chasing him.
“I probably burnt 100m further (early) than I would have liked, but he was a pretty good win in the end,” Ford said.
Cliffhanger recorded a 16.9m win in the Cavalor Equicare Pace (2090m).
“I gave the favourite (Monsieur Meilland) a good drag into it at Carrick, and I reckon if he dragged me into the race, he wouldn’t have beat me.
“(On Sunday) I thought he would end up outside of me, but I didn’t think he would be able to sit outside me or come from behind me if I was able to find the top, which I did.”
Other features on the Hobart included the Art Meeker Memorial Matron Stakes, which was won by Lil Ripper ($1.80 fav) for trainer-driver Rohan Hillier, and the E. C. Plunkett Memorial was taken out by Messerati ($19) for the Ben Yole and Olivia Weidenbach combination.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
