Barbary Tales ($1.40 fav) ended her preparation with her biggest win of the season, when claiming the Group 3 6ty° Bandbox (2200m) for the Tasbred Three Year Old fillies in Launceston on Saturday night.
With the late scratching of Smooth Reason, punters narrowed it to a race in two between Barbary Tales and The Bride, with both pacers second-up from a Victorian campaign.
Alex Ashwood took The Bride ($2.60) straight to the early lead, and after a lead time of 43.2s and a first quarter of 30.7s, Ashwood decided to make it a staying test, increasing the tempo to 28.8s, 27.6s before being rundown by Barbary Tales in a 31.4s final split.
There was 3.2m between the pair at the finish, singling right out from Alwaysatiger ($31), who was 22.6m away third.
“It was one of her best runs, having to sit back and having to run home from the last 900m,” said driver Brodie Davis.
“I saw him (Alex Ashwood) have a good look over his shoulder at the winning post (for the bell), and I thought he was going to get running from there.
“It took to the 400m until I thought I was a bit of a chance, and she found another gear once we straightened, and I thought I had The Bride then, but it took a while to get there,” the driver explained.
Trained by Brodie’s father, Steven, Barbary Tales has now won five of her 10 starts for the season.
“She has had a good year. She was third in the Beautide (behind Fighter Command). Unfortunately, she missed the Tasmanian Oaks as she had a cold, but it has been a good year, and she has come back from her (two-run) Melbourne trip a better horse.
“She will go to the paddock this week, and then look at a program around the Granny Smith and the Beautide.
The For A Reason mare is bred by former Tasmanian Andrew Rawlings, and is raced by north-west coast owner John “Charlie” Huston.
Youngbloods Challenge
The four heats of the 6ty° Youngbloods were also held across Saturday’s 10-race program, and the points saw last year’s winner, Brodie Davis, dead-heating with Jordan Chibnall.
Davis drove Martyr ($2.60 fav) and Mikiyoursofine ($3.20) to victory in two of the heats, with his other drives finishing second and eighth.
For Chibnall, she won heat three with Cee Tee Chelsea ($15), and she also drove two second placings and a fourth.
“I have never gone any good in the Youngbloods, so it was good to be dead heating for first this year,” said Chibnall.
While Davis said, “I went into it with a good book, so I was happy enough to get a dead heat.”
Both drivers expressed gratitude to the owners and trainers who supported this year’s series.
Final Point’s score
47 – Jordan Chibnall and Brodie Davis,
29 – Liam Older,
27 – Bronte Miller,
26- Ethan Arnott,
25 – Kayleb Willimas,
19 – Grace Jones,
18 – Jacob Duggan,
16 – Malcom Jones and
11 – Georgia Hayward.
Some of the Youngblood’s drivers had success in some of the other races on the program, with Jordan Chibnall driving Ultimaction to win in the Brian Davidson Memorial (1680m) in 1:53.9s, which was a new state record for mares, breaking the previous record of 1:54.1s that Sherocks Sherolls set in December last year.
Liam Older partnered the Wayne Yole-trained Soho Tuxedo to win the Golden Slipper (1680m) for the Two Year Olds with less than two lifetime wins.
