Tasmanian Hall Of Fame reinsman Ricky Duggan will continue his pursuit of the most successful driver in the state’s history tonight at Luxbet Park.
Duggan sits second on the all-time Drivers Premiership table with 1522 victories in his highly decorated career, just over 50 wins behind the legendary Barrie Rattray.
Tonight at Luxbet Park, harness racing enthusiasts will experience two giants of the industry do battle on the track.
With son Todd in Western Australia on National duties with stable star Devendra on the opening night of the Inter-dominion Series, Barrie has been forced to come off the pine, wipe the dust from the silks and climb into the sulky.
The champion reinsman has the chance to edge closer to the magical 1600 wins milestone, partnering three leading hopes on the eight-event card.
Rattray has the favourite Zhukov Leis in race two the LJ Hooker Pace over 2090-metres and he will go head to head with the Duggan charge Flying Wingard.
Zhukov Leis has won two of seven career starts with the four-year-old winning three starts back over Buster William, which has franked the form by winning at its two subsequent outings.
Flying Wingard, trained by Marc Butler, has been impressive in each of its three starts since arriving from Victoria.
The four-year-old turned in two tremendous runs behind Streitkid before scoring a runaway 12-metre victory in Launceston.
The two star drivers will need all their experience an expertise in race five the Olympus Feeds Pace over the flying mile.
Rattray and Duggan will start wide on the second line with Tuxedo Max and Giuliani.
Barrie will handle the in-form Tuxedo Max for cousin Ken Rattray, the seven-year-old winning three of its last four starts while Ricky will re-unite with Giuliani after a successful mainland campaign earlier in the year.
Invest will run a short-priced favourite in the famous red and white Rattray stable colours in race seven, the Robert’s Sprint Lane Pace.
The three-year-old filly is stepping out for the first time this season but takes promising first season form into the assignment.
Ricky’s top drives look to be the classy trio Vouray Beach, Mister Lennox and Jaks Teller.
The Marc Butler-trained three-year-old filly Vouray Beach is expected to lead at its first run this season, she won two of five in her first preparation and on the strength of her runaway trial win on Monday night is primed for victory.
Mister Lennox takes on last start Cannonball Charge winner Destreos in the Rexel North Hobart Tasmanian Mile and will be further improved on its first up run last week in the feature race, finishing strongly to be beaten 11.7-metres by the Ken Rattray trained veteran.
Jaks Teller will start the shortest-priced favourite of the night and looks a moral to take its career record to eight wins from nine starts.
The Tasmanian Pacing Club meeting at Luxbet Park, commencing at 17.59, can be seen via the live stream service at tasracing.com.au.
