Sunday night’s Group 3 Ladbrokes Hobart Pacing Cup is the first feature of the Tasmanian Harness Racing calendar for 2022, where the Dean Braun prepared Willie Go West is the one to beat despite drawing outside of the front row.
The five-year-old gelded son of Auckland Reactor won heats of the Tasmanian and Easter Cup’s last season before returning to Victoria where he won the Group 3 Maryborough Cup in October, before finishing down the track in the four and five-year-old Championship at Melton where things didn’t go to script at his last public outing on 30 October.
Braun gave the winner of eight races from only 18 starts a trial at Melton on Tuesday, where his only other rival was stablemate and former New Zealand Cup winner Cruz Bromac.
Willie Go West followed his only rival before working one off near the 400m to go on and score by a narrow margin, with the duo sprinting home in a 54.8s last half mile in the 2240m standing start trial.
The pacer was driven in the trial by Chris Alford, who will take the drive on Sunday from outside of the front-row in the 2579m mobile start event.
They will take on a strong local contingent, including 2020 Hobart Cup winner Ryley Major, feature race placegetter Lip Reader, progressive talent Cool Water Paddy and last seasons Tasmanian Cup winner The Shallows and recent Golden Apple winner Gotta Good Reason who has retuned to the Mark Yole stable, with many of the local chances to appreciate a drop back to mobile start racing after starting from big handicaps in standing start features.
The Hobart Pacing Cup has had a prize money increase up to $40,000, returning the stakes level to its original figure when reintroduced to the calendar in 1994.
Participants have obviously welcomed the prize money increase, with the race having a full field for the first time since 2018.
A win on Sunday will be the second for the Braun and Alford combo, winning the race in 2007 with Zonda.
Sunday’s Hobart card also sees the first heats of the new Tasbred series the Sinbad Bay and Jane Ellen, while the Art Meeker Memorial Matron Stakes and the E C Plunkett Memorial will also be held on the brilliant 10-race card that commences at 17:15, with the meeting to be televised on Sky Racing 1 as well as a live hosting on TasracingTV