Consistent pacer Shoobees Spirit will be chasing his fourth win of the season when he lines up in a National Rating 55 to 59 event over 2090m in Hobart on Sunday night.
The Steve Lukac-trained pacer has had 22 starts this season and has recorded a top-five finish on 17 occasions.
“He is a nice little horse. His racing pattern goes against him a little bit. He doesn’t have a lot of gate speed, and he has to be timed to come with that one run, but he is so honest, it doesn’t matter where he is in the run, or what his opposition is, he is always finishing off,” said the Oatlands-based Lukac.
The most recent win for the Shoobees Place gelding came in Hobart two runs ago, where he scored by 12.2m in a time of 1:55.8s.
“The time did surprise me a little bit. I knew he did have a good mile in him, and I’m tossing up whether (next week) we go to the Dynamo with him, and try to come with one good run, or if I go up to Launceston, as I think that track suits him better.”
The pacer was then runner-up to Wazza last week, where he came from a midfield position near the 600m.
“All credit to Wazza, he is a nice horse in the making, and I said to the owner before the race if Wazza lobbed on top that it would be hard to beat him, but I thought we could run money, and that’s what happened, and we did beat the rest by 11.7m, and I was very happy with his effort.”
Regular driver Jack Watson has taken the night off from his driving commitments to attend a Car Show, and Lukac will leave driving responsibilities up to reinsman Todd Rattray from the inside of the second-row draw.
“The small field suits his style, but I will leave it all up to Todd, and he can do what he pleases,” said Lukac.
Lukac hopes the pacer can win, after a tough few days for owner Greg West.
Meanwhile, there is Tasmanian representation at Tuesday’s New Zealand Trotting Cup program at Addington in Christchurch.
Tasmanian-born, now Victorian-based, Alex Ashwood trains and is a part-owner of Parisian Artiste, who lines up in the feature Trot race of the day, the NZ $400,000 Dominion (3200m), with his partner Tayla French booked for the drive.
Maree Payne, also a former Tasmanian now based in Victoria, is a part-owner of Jilliby Ballerini, who is also engaged in the same race.
