27 September 2019 | Duncan Dornauf
There were eight races in Launceston on Wednesday this week and it was a night full of highlights.
Rohan Hillier, Conor Crook and Marc Butler all went home with multiple wins on the card.
This week we return to the Sunday twilight time slot in Hobart with eight races set down for decision.
The Stars
Marc Butler – moved into second spot on the state trainer’s title after the first month of the season after a training double on Wednesday night. Butler’s first winner was with nine-year-old gelding Full Speed Ahead who led all the way to cause a minor upset in the Find Us On Facebook Stakes. It was the first win for Full Speed Ahead since October 2018. Similan Beach was well supported to win the last race on the card to register his third win in a row when completing Butler’s treble in the last race on the card.
Conor Crook and Rohan Hillier – the Beauty Point duo appeared to have a good night on paper and that’s the way it panned out. Crook drove the Hillier trained Sheza Bettormak and Awayandrideyourself to victories with Crook also driving the Brooke Hammond trained Moonlite Bay to win in race seven, while Hillier drove the Paul Ashwood trained Blingittothemax in the opening race.
Taylor Ford – prepared her first training win when Bettor Than That outstayed her rivals in the Sunrise Bakery Stakes. The gelded son of Bettors Delight was first up since 31 May and had joined the Ford stable since that effort. Taylor has five runners from her stable engaged in Hobart on Sunday night.
Impassable – it had been 1270 days since the gelded son of Bettors Delight had seen the race track, and the seven-year-old pacer made a winning return from his injury forced lay off to score in the Great Northern Super Crisp Stakes.
Multiple Winners
Launceston – Wednesday evening
Conor Crook – driving treble: Sheza Bettormak, Ryley Major and Moonlite Bay,
Rohan Hillier – training double: Sheza Bettormak and Ryley Major, plus he drove Blingittothemax,
Marc Butler – training double: Full Speed Ahead and Similan Beach.
Calculated Sectional Standouts
Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.
Launceston Wednesday evening
Blingittothemax 56.18s, Full Speed Ahead 56.20s, Ryley Major 56.28s, Im Jaks Teller 56.61s and Blackbird Power 56.73s.
View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.
Tasracing Official Price
Launceston Wednesday evening
Hit’s: Impassable $17 into $8.50, Bettorthanthat $10 into $7.00 and Similan Beach $2.10 into $1.85.
Defied The Drift: Blingittothemax $1.65 out to $2.30, Sheza Bettormak $3.20 out to $4.40, Full Seed Ahead $3.00 out to $4.80 and Moonlite Bay $1.70 out to $2.10.
Missed: Yellow Taxi $6.00 into $4.80 and Ryley Major $1.35 into $1.28.
Trial File
Carrick Park – Saturday morning
The Clayton Miller trained Smilin Geoff recorded the quickest winning mile rate across the four trials when the It Is I entire recorded 2m 4.3s when winning his trial.
The trial was a standing start event for horses with a National Rating of 59 or better over 2150 metres.
Smilin Geoff dashed home his final two quarters in 28.5s and 28.5s to defeat last start winner Bremusa by four metres with Busted a further 10 metres away third.
Unraced three-year-old Zelensky Leis won his second trial in a row when he scored in a National Rating 40 to 50 event.
The Todd Rattray trained and driven gelding recorded a mile rate of 2m 6.3s when scoring by two metres over Auntie Connie with Kivik a half metre away in third position.
Other trial winners were; My Ultimate Romeo (2m 8.3s) and Alaphilippe (2m 5.2s).
Week Ahead
Harness Racing heads to Hobart this Sunday for a competitive eight race card.
Tasmania’s fastest pacer Call Me Hector will take on five other rivals in the Hobart Signwriters Pace.
The Matthew Cooper trained and driven pacer flew around the Hobart circuit on 18 September when he recorded a time of 1m 54.3s over the mile journey when leading all the way.
Call Me Hector steps back out in distance to the 2090 metre journey where he looks well suited and once again he looks the early leader.
The final race of the night, the Rexel North Hobart Claimer sees the claiming king of Tasmanian harness racing, Im Barney Rubble face a 10-metre handicap as he looks for his fourth win in a row.
The first race is scheduled for 17:37 and will be televised on Sky Racing 1, Sky Racing Active and TasracingTV’s Live Stream.
Interstate this week at metropolitan venues some of our Tasmanian representatives include:
Menangle – Saturday night
Race 2 Horse 5 Scooterwillrev.
Melton – Saturday night
Race 5 Horse 5 Our Quinn, Horse 8 Monarkmac and Horse 11 Somedan,
Race 2 Horse 1 Hez The One and Horse 8 No Apachemee,
Race 4 Horse 1 Shestryingtactics and Horse 4 Machitelli,
Race 6 Horse 5 Ready To Fire.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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