04 July 2022 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
The cold frosty mornings at Oatlands in Tasmania’s southern midlands got a little warmer for trainer Steve Lukac, who took two runners to Hobart on Sunday evening, leaving the venue with a 100% strike rate for the night.
Two-year-old Heres Henry got the ball rolling for Lukac in the opening race when the Lincoln Royal colt was able to zoom straight to the lead, controlling the race and dashing away late to score by 9.3m in 2m 0.9s for the mile trip.
“When he found the top, I thought he would be hard to beat and Dylan (Ford) rated him nicely and got away with a 32s quarter,” said Lukac.
“(His manners) is probably his best asset, we knew from day one that he wasn’t talented and that he was well gaited and well mannered.”
Lukac will give the pacer an opportunity at the upcoming two-year-old features.
“There is a race coming up in a couple of weeks for no more than two wins, but it probably won’t stand up, then onto the Sweepstakes and Sires,” explained the trainer.
Later in the night, Call Me Hector rounded out the double for Lukac and Ford, when taking out the Rokeby Cricket Club Pace.
The gelded son of Art Major produced good standing start manners to settle behind the leader before racing away from his rivals late in the 2090m event to score at his third start back from over a year off the scene.
“It’s a relief more than anything else.
“When Matty Cooper had him, he was highly thought of and I had given him two starts, and he had finished down the track.
“I didn’t realise you couldn’t have him on oats and he was tied up last start in Launceston, and the owners told me don’t go on oats, so I stopped that and stepped his work up,” explained Lukac.
“I would like to string a few runs together and get him race fit.
“He did blow up over the back last night and there is the Golden Mile next week. Again, it’s problematic if it stands up, then we will try and look at the better races down the track,” added the trainer.
The mile rate of 1m 58.8s was only 0.1s outside the 2090m standing start track record that Resurgent Spirit holds.
“Both wins can be attributed to Dylan’s drives, they were just both excellent drives,” the trainer pointed out.
The main race on the Hobart card was the Meeker Fillies and Mares Series which was won by the Paul Carlson-trained Better Amour, who came home best courtesy of a well-timed drive by Ricky Duggan.
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