While thoroughbred trainer Glenn Stevenson will be kept busy with a team of horses at Sunday’s thoroughbred meeting in Hobart, he will also have some attention on the last Tasmanian harness racing feature of the season, the Ladbrokes Tasmanian Country Championship (2150m) at Carrick Park.
Stevenson is among the nine owners of the three-year-old filly Glenview Lanikai, who has drawn barrier two in the Three Year Old event for horses that are rated no higher than 54, with those that have won no more than two races also eligible.
The daughter of Soho Lanikai has had six starts for a Launceston win in May, along with four minor placings, and she is the first horse trained by North Latrobe-based trainer Ben Parker.
“Everything she has done so far has been good,” said Parker.
Glenview Lanikai hasn’t raced since a second to Smooth Reason in a heat of the Bandbox in mid-November, where, although she was defeated 10m by Smooth Reason, she was running on late, with her individual last half mile on the Tasracing Calculated sectionals recorded in 56.4s.
“She was really good in the heat as she had been a little bit crook in the lead up, and we thought we had beaten that, but she had a cold break out after and ended up missing the final.
“She is right to go now, and Sunday’s race looked like a suitable race on the calendar. There are a few nice ones in it, but you are only a three-year-old once,” said the trainer.
Glenview Lanikai has drawn barrier two in the $14,000 event.
“She is not blessed with a lot of gate speed, but Liam (Older) has been driving her well. Hopefully she can lob handy, and hopefully she can use the nice little sprint she has got to get home good,” said Parker, who rated Miki Sing for visiting Victorian trainer Mitchell Frost as one of the hardest to beat, along with the Rohan Hillier-trained and driven Shibasaki.
Sunday’s Carrick Park card, which is the last harness meeting in the state for 2025, will commence at 16:04, with Sky Racing 2 televising the first four races, with races five to nine scheduled for coverage on Sky Racing 1.
