16 October 2020 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
You can tell the Tasmanian Sires’ Stakes series is ramping up another gear, with nine of last week’s winners being Tasmanian bred.
The state’s best two-year-olds were on display in Hobart on Sunday with the Evicus heats and a prelude of the Dandy Patch, the Hobart card following a great meeting in Devonport.
This week we have two meetings.
Launceston race in the regular Sunday, while the Tasmanian Trotting Club stage a rare Tuesday night meeting.
The Stars
Blame It On Me – returned to the track with a dominant win in Hobart on Sunday night. The Doug Nettlefold-trained filly was first-up for just over nine months due to a fractured pastern and was forced to race outside the leader for the victory.
Lancelot – ran a brave second in the Sweepstakes final and backed up that effort with a strong win in the Prelude of the Dandy Patch to register the Roll With Joe’s first win at start six after three-second placings.
Stepping Stones – recorded her second career win when leading all the way to score in the opening heat of the Evicus. The Stonebridge Regal filly is prepared by her driver Heath Woods.
Geoff Smith – walked away from the Devonport card with a training double, including four-year-old American Ideal gelding Im Quite American who was having his first start in the state.
Ben Yole – prepared doubles at both Hobart and Launceston to take his career wins pass 850.
Multiple Winners
Devonport – Friday evening
Mark Yole – driving double; Little Cessna and Laid Back Kenny,
Hannah Van Dongen – driving double; Im Quite American and Proficient,
Ben Yole – training double; Proficient and Pink Ponder,
Geoff Smith – training double; Im Quite American and Laid Back Kenny.
Hobart – Sunday evening
Todd Rattray – training and driving double; Lancelot and Bonacci,
Gareth Rattray – driving double; Bettabrown Tiger and Melnrowley,
Ben Yole – training double; Denstown and Coveffe Hustler.
Calculated Sectional Standouts
Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.
Devonport – Friday night
Laid Back Kenny 58.53s, Proficient 59.20s, Betterbsweet 59.48s, Velocity Stride 59.52s and Kiavino Stride 59.54s.
Hobart – Sunday night
Proficient 56.59s, Better Amour 56.62, Kardeslar 56.83s, Blame It On Me 57.14s and Black Ops 57.29s.
View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.
Tasracing Official Price
Devonport – Friday evening
Hit’s: Pink Ponder $7.00 into $5.50.
Defied The Drift: Little Cessna $13 out to $16, Im Quite American $7.00 out to $8.00 and Laid Back Kenny $10 out to $11.
Missed: Spot Eight $26 into $18, Jackson Neptune $9 into $7.50, Big Bang Raj $12 into $8.00 and War Chest $3.10 into $2.45.
Hobart – Sunday Twilight.
Hit’s: Bettabrown Tiger $6.00 into $5.00, Melnrowley $1.20 into $1.07, Denstown $18 into $10 and Blame It On Me $4.40 into $3.80.
Defied The Drift: Stepping Stones $3.00 out to $3.90, Lancelot $2.80 out to $4.80, Bonacci $3.80 out to $4.40, Kardeslar $3.50 out to $4.00 and Coveffe Huster $6.00 out to $10
Missed: Nova Baxter $5.00 into $4.40, Rocknovertime $1.70 into $1.30, My Celebrity $7.50 into $5.00, The Thug $5.00 into $3.70, Betterthanfetta $26 into $7.50, Topzavski $26 into $7.00 and Better Amour $4.00 into $3.60.
Trial File
Carrick Park – Monday evening
Michael Laugher-trained Blundell recorded the quickest winning mile rate of the five trials held.
Driven by Rohan Hillier, the four-year-old Artistic Fella entire was able to lead most of the way and scored by a neck over Cedric Seymour with Hit The Lights a further 34.25 metres away third.
The trial was run over the mile trip, opposed to the 1670-metre start point that has been used for many years, in a time of 2m 2.7s.
Other winners included; Bridwood Bella (2m 9.6s), Kikkimi (2m 8.5s), Cinocal Jamane (2m 5.5s) and Offthetopofmyhead (2m 7.3s)
You can view the weekend’s replays by clicking here.
Week Ahead
Launceston is the venue for Sunday night harness racing, where there are only the seven-races that will be staged with many short price favourites across the program.
The first race sees an open three-year-old event where Blame It On Me, Watchmylips and Kivik will all be out to extend their respective picket fences.
The card ends with a two-year-old event where Bridwood Bella will be another pacer out to extend her winning streak, coming up with the pole draw as she chases her third career win at her third race start. She takes on Kiwi import Demand Respect who won at Oamaru last start in a mile rate of 1m 57.9s for 2000 metre.
The meeting commences at 18:14.
The action then heads to Hobart on Tuesday night for a Tier Two meeting, with eight races form 18:52.
It will be a celebration of harness racing at Elwick as it will be 15 years to the day since Queen Carey and Gareth Rattray won the first race on the Elwick track.
Both meetings this week will be televised on Sky Racing 1 and TasracingTV.
Some Tasmanian pacers doing battle over the next few days at metropolitan venues include;
Menangle – Saturday Night
Race 10 Horse 10 No Apachemee
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