In Brief
- Riverboat Jasper returns to scene of Cup win.
- Full Speed Ahead chasing another cup victory.
- 6ty° Youngblood Challenge Series kicks off today.
Former Easter Cup and Devonport Cup winner Riverboat Jasper returns to racing this afternoon in the North West Light Harness Association Cup at Devonport.
The Wayne Campbell trained nine-year-old gelding will be chasing his third North West Light Harness Association Cup victory after success in 2016 and ’17 and will start from the back-mark of 20-metres over the 2698-metre staying trip.
” ‘Jasper’ has been off the scene for eight months so it’s exciting to have him back on the track today on a circuit where he has enjoyed success winning five of his 11 starts, he won his first race at the track in 2013 and has won the Devonport Cup (pictured) , the Devonport City of Quality and two Light Harness Association Cups” said Wayne.
“His work has been excellent, he appears to have a new lease of life after the break and performed well at Carrick a fortnight ago winning his trial, we’ve had the chiropractor up and there are no issues and he’s looking and feeling good so I’m expecting a forward showing first up today.”
Riverboat Jasper boasts a record of 91 starts for 21 wins and 32 placings and is nudging $200,000 in stake money.
“He has been great campaigner, he’s more like a friend than racehorse, Wanda and I took the campervan to the mainland for five weeks which was something different and enjoyable for us but we are pleased to be back and we are looking forward to watching him race,” said Wayne.
“Rohan (Hillier) will have his first drive on him today and we are quietly confident he will perform well, we will be pleased to see him run money today as it’s a very strong Cup field.”
St. Marys and North Eastern Cup winner Full Speed Ahead, trained and driven by Todd Rattray, returned to the winner’s list at his last start in Launceston scoring a powerful victory in the Tasmanian Horse Transport and is the pre-post favourite while Ulverstone Cup winner Chief Destroyer is considered a leading contender along with Another Swinger.
The 6ty° Youngblood Challenge Series kicks off today at Devonport with the state’s leading Junior drivers on display in races five and six.
Conor Crook looks a major player in round one with Rattlenhum drawing the pole in heat one and with Metro Star in the second heat.
Ricky Duggan and Todd Rattray flew the Tasmanian flag strongly in the Australian Drivers Championship at Globe Derby on Saturday night with Ricky scoring maximum points in the last with Skippy Rascal ($5.40).
Duggan picked up valuable points with placings behind Vandanta and Magic Ruler while Todd steered home two placegetters Clarendon Valour and Our El Nino.
This afternoon’s card of racing at Devonport commences at 13.27 and may be viewed via the live stream service at tasracing.com.au.
Watch Riverboat Jasper, trained and driven by Mark Yole, win the the 2018 Hardings Hotmix Devonport Cup here.
