Rattray is a name synonymous with Tasmanian harness racing, and three generations are set to contest Tasmania’s newest race, named in honour of the family’s most famous horse, Beautide, in Hobart on Saturday night.
And what a fitting name it is, reminding Tasmanians that they can breed locally and dream big to achieve harness racing’s ultimate prize.
The prize for winning the race for three and four-year-olds that is restricted to Tasbred horses and those that have been 100% Tasmanian owned for the previous 12 months, is Tasracing’s slot in the worlds richest harness race, the $2.1 million TAB Eureka at Sydney’s Menangle Park on 2 September.
Gareth Rattray teamed up with his father Barrie when Beautide won on debut in a modest two-year-old race at Burnie, in a mile rate of 2m 12.7s, a far cry from his best winning mile rate of 1m 50.2s.
From those humble beginnings, Beautide ended up going on to win two Inter Dominions and a Miracle Mile amongst his 49 wins and $2.1 million in prize money, with the majority of those feature races coming under the care of Barrie’s son James, who will drive Nyack in the race.
Nyack is one of three runners in the race prepared by Todd Rattray, who will drive race favourite Magician, while Ricky Duggan will drive Maebee.
Out to beat Todd is his brother Gareth who will drive Joe The Bookie, and their grandparents, Hall of Fame participant Wayne Rattray, and his wife Gaye, own and breed Karalta Artemis, trained by their son Kent.
Karalta Artemis last season became Tasmania’s fastest two-year-old when flying around Hobart to win in 1m 56.3s and so far this season, he has won two races, including the Three Year Old Prelude of the race in Hobart on 16 July.
“I knew I didn’t have him right that night, but to get round and win, I thought was a pretty good effort,” said Kent.
Karalta Artemis has won five races and placed on five occasions from 13 starts, but two of those unplaced efforts have been through the pacer galloping in his races.
“I know he does a few things wrong, but I don’t think there is another horse in the race that has the high speed that he does, but I’m not sure if he will get to a position to use it from his draw,” the trainer said.
While acknowledging it was a tough race, Kent believed the gelding should be closer in betting to fellow three-year-old De Goey in early markets.
“I have had three runs against De Goey and beat him twice. In the other run, we went hard early.
“If people think De Goey can win, then I think my horse can win, but in saying that, we are racing seasoned four-year-olds and it’s going to be a tough race.
“I think it will come down to the survival of the fittest,” he said.
John Walters will have his first drive on the gelding under race conditions, but he has driven the pacer to two trial victories at Carrick this year.
While the winner will find a rise in class taking on the nation’s best in the TAB Eureka, hopefully, they can match the deeds of Beautide or two-time New Zealand Cup winner Flashing Red, and many wouldn’t have believed both horses would have achieved what they did when they sailed away from our island state.
The Beautide is scheduled for 19:51, the fourth event on a nine-race card. Live hosted coverage will be provided on TasracingTV and Sky Racing Active.
