A quality and even field has been assembled for the $15,000 Madonna Miss Stakes in Launceston on Sunday night.
Fresh off a close second placing in Launceston last week, the Ben Yole-prepared Diamonds N Cash will be out to chalk up his first win since arriving in the state in the 2200m standing start event.
Yole was keen to obtain a quality pacer to take advantage of the increased prize money on open class races in the state, with the gelded son of Rocknroll Hanover catching Yole’s eye when engaged in a claiming race last month.
“He is a high-quality horse that can do it pretty tough (in his races), and have a good turn of foot … he also had good standing start form in New Zealand.
“The free-for-alls are strong down here, but you race the same ones most of the time, and they are worth at least $10,000, so we decided to invest into something that we hope could be a quality free-for-all horse,” said Yole on this week’s Tasmanian Harness Highlights Podcast.
The half-relation to Inter Dominion finalist Diamonds N Furs was claimed by Yole and the Solotrek Racing Syndicate at Kilmore last month, and after one start in Yole’s Victorian stable, before being transferred to Tasmania, he ran second to Sunny Sanz at his first run in the state last week.
“I was very happy with him. He got caught in the death, we didn’t really want to be there but got caught there, and Mark (Yole, driver) got the most out of him.
“I think he needed the run. He had a good blow after the race,” Yole explained about the performance of the multiple metropolitan winner.
Todd Rattray takes a two-prong attack into the race, with Harjeet, who is second up from a long break, and last start winner Izaha.
Call Me Hector, The Shallows (pictured) and Be Major Threat all have strong winning claims.
Other highlights on the card include the last leg of the Tasbred Fillies and Mares series, The King, which kicks off the quaddie as race five, and the Cliff Robbins Memorial, which this year is a combined two and three-year-old event.
The nine-race card commences at 17:23.
