Eight-year-old gelding Smooth Deal defied a betting drift to claim the Kevin Redpath North West Plate Final (2180m) in Burnie on Friday night.
The pacer opened at $4.80 on the Tasmanian Official Price before drifting out to $9.
Trained by Wayne Yole, Smooth Deal stepped well and settled on the back of Alberio at the first attempt, but a false start was declared when the 10m tape failed to clear the track.
The second attempt was a similar story with Alberio finding the top, with Smooth Deal sitting on his back.
Driver Kyle Pratten was able to work away from the pylons on Smooth Deal, leaving the back straight, and he proved too quick late for Alberio ($6) by 2.7m and Done Well ($21) close up third in a mile rate of 2:05.0s.
“I drove him a while ago down here, and I found that if he can lead or be on the fence, he really goes well on this track. If he has to go wide, it’s a different story,” said winning driver Kyle Pratten post-race.
Pratten was competing at his fourth meeting back after having a couple of months off.
“I put my horses in the paddock for winter. They weren’t enjoying it, and neither was I, but we are back for the summer,” said the driver.
Tasmania’s leading driver, Dylan Ford, dominated the program, driving the final four winners and, in doing so, notched up his 500th career driving win.
The milestone came with Goodtime Oscar ($2.90), which capped a winning treble for the Tammy Langley stable, which also won with Just Follow Me ($2.70 fav) and Howsweetthesound ($1.80 fav).
Ford’s fourth win came with Top Gun Ted ($8.50), which completed a training treble for Wayne Yole.
Yole’s other winner was No Nukes Skipper ($6), which was the first leg of a driving double for Gareth Rattray, who was in the sulky for the win of Judysmemum ($1.40 fav), who made it two wins from two starts.
Another favourite to win was Shezalllollies ($2.40), who led all the way to claim the $14,000 Maiden event, with the winning connections also picking up their $10,000 first win Tasbred bonus.
