28 October 2022 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
The Rohan Hillier-trained and driven Lip Reader faces a tough ask when he returns to the track in Friday’s N.W.T.L.H.A Cup in Burnie.
Lip Reader has been allocated a 30m handicap in the 2500m event.
No horse has won off that handicap around the tight 607m coastal circuit since Le Premiere and Elect To Go who scored in two heats of the North West Plate on 6 January 2019.
However, Lip Reader has proven himself from big handicaps in the past, winning this year’s Devonport Cup off 30m in January, when edging out stablemate Ryley Major.
The winner of 23 races is first-up since finishing 10th in the Group 1 Easter Cup behind Longfellow in mid-April, and he commenced this campaign with a trial win at Carrick Park on 15 October.
On that occasion, the gelded son of Sportswriter settled last of the five-horse field before getting a cart into the trial from the 800m.
Lip Reader worked home nicely from the 300m to run down Iylac Beach to score by one metre in a mile rating of 2m 2.1s, with the pacer not fully tested over the concluding stages.
The gelding is looking for back-to-back wins in the race after his 17.2m demolition win in last year’s event, when the race was held at the Devonport Showgrounds. The pacer is expected to be a contender in many of the upcoming summer and autumn features including the Golden Apple, which kicks off with a heat on 13 November.
Some of Lip Reader’s opposition on Friday include the Kent Rattray-trained duo Colby Sanz and Rockandahardplace, along with this year’s Sheffield Cup winner Coolhand Easton, all of which have brilliant standing start manners and front-row draws.
There is also several chances from the Ben Yole stable, with Aha Reaction, Diamonds N Cash and Cullenburn being the more fancied of the stables representation.
The first of the eight races scheduled for 18:04 and can be seen on Sky Racing 2 and TasracingTV.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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