Tasmanian Harness Highlights – Thursday, 6 August

06 August 2020 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
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What a night it was in Hobart on Sunday night, the only harness meeting held in the state during the past week.

The Shallows smashed the clock, coming from well back to score in a rating 66 to 75 event with his last half-mile being the quickest of the meeting.

Ryley Major also smashed the clock in the discretionary handicap where his individual mile rate from his 30-metre mark was 1m 57.7s which obliterated the track record. However, it will not be noted as despite his solid performance it wasn’t enough to win the race with Full Speed Ahead leading all the way in the 2090-metre event. The Mark Yole-driven pacer recorded a mile rate of 1m 59.1s, 0.4s outside the track record.

As always there have been plenty of former Tasmanian’s doing good things interstate including 17-year-old Jordan Leedham who drove his first winner at Bendigo on Wednesday.

Jordan’s great-uncle is Stan Leedham owner of 1966 Inter Dominion winner Chamfer Star.

There will be two meetings in the state this week with Launceston racing on Friday night and Hobart on Sunday in the twilight zone.

The Stars

The Shallows – was absolutely brilliant winning his rating 66 to 75 event on Sunday. The Heath Woods-trained and driven pacer was first-up from a spell and came from a long way back in a solid last half mile to record his 10th career win at start 21.

Marc Butler – was represented by four horses across three races on Sunday and the Pipers River trainer headed home with a treble after winning with Bettabrown Tiger, Peaceful Thomas and Armchair Drive. In the past 12-months Butler has had 42 starters in Hobart for 18 wins and 11 placings.

Full Speed Ahead – has a reputation of not being able to back up with a week between runs. He certainly did handle the quick turnaround in the Discretionary Handicap where he was able to lead from outside of the front row and was well rated in front to score by 4.3 metres at his first start for Zeke Slater.

Giftofjoy – is a five-year-old Art Major mare who has built up an impressive record in her 14-start career to date. The Rohan Hillier-trained and driven mare won her sixth race on Sunday night, she also has seven placings to her credit.

Conor Crook – registered his 100th career winner in the sulky when he scored on Peaceful Thomas who paced all the way after being costly for punters after galloping in his past three outings.

Multiple Winners

Hobart – Sunday evening 

Marc Butler – training treble; Bettabrown Tiger, Peaceful Thomas and Armchair Drive.

Rohan Hillier – driving double; Giftofjoy and Armchair Drive.

Ricky Duggan – driving double; Bettabrown Tiger and Ark Fury.

Calculated Sectional Standouts

Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.

Hobart – Sunday evening 

The Shallows 55.35s, Somedan 56.38s and Chasing Cheetahs 56.60s. Outside of race four; Ryley Major 56.92s, Sea Double Ugrant 57.65s and Shelby Bromac 57.80s.

View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.

Tasracing Official Price

Hobart – Sunday evening

Hit’s: Mozasu $7.00 into $6.00, Giftofjoy $2.50 into $2.30, Got the Goods $41 into $13 and Armchair Drive $2.30 into $2.15.

Defied The Drift: Bettabrown Tiger $2.70 out to $3.30, The Shallows $2.40 out to $2.90, Full Speed Ahead $8.50 out to $26, Missin Rock $4.00 out to $5.00 and Peaceful Thomas $1.75 out to $1.90.

Missed: Bold Centurian $3.90 into $1.85, Lord Stark $14 into $8.50, Big Bang Raj $12 into $8.50, Mia From Memphis $5.50 into $5.00, Kardesler $3.80 into $3.10, Resurgent Storm $6.50 into $3.20, Scooterwillrev $3.00 into $1.60, Joogle $6.00 into $4.80, I’m Full Tilt $21 into $5.00, Mostly Spirit $3.60 into $3.30, My Girl Pearl $11 into $7.50, My Ultimate Romeo $4.80 into $3.60 and One Yankee Ginga $3.80 into $3.00.

Trial File

No trials were staged in the state during the past seven days.

Trial Replays

You can view most trials since the resuming from the COVID break by clicking here.

FORMPLUS Blackbook

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Has been racing well in recent weeks and was runner-up to Missin Rock in Hobart on Sunday. The Ben Yole-trained pacer ended up one-out and three-back before being shuffled out to last at the 600 metres. The pacer ended up having to go five and six wide around the home corner where he hit the line well, naturally recording the quickest last half-mile of the race. With the right draw and softer run, he should be picking up a lowly rated race soon.

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Week Ahead

Harness racing heads to Launceston on Friday night with a seven-race card commencing at 17:35.

As mentioned earlier, the Marc Butler stable is in red hot form, and he is represented by three runners at the meeting.

The interesting runner from his trio of starters is Semowillrev who will be stepping out for the first time since July 2019 and the gelded son of Sportswriter who was previously trained by Craig Hayes, has not been seen in any recent trials. The task will be made tough first-up by drawing outside of the front row.

Butler’s other runners include Raymonds Judge who is aiming for a winning hat-trick and Sermac who is also a last start winner.

The meeting will be shown on TasracingTV and Sky Racing 2.

After a dominant win on Sunday, the Heath Woods-trained and driven pacer The Shallows is on the seven-day back up in the Hobart Signwriters Pace at Ladbrokes Park Elwick.

The rating 75 to 79 event is one of his toughest tests to date with the Rohan Hillier-trained and driven pacer Lip Reader drawing barrier five on the front-row.

Lip Reader finished seventh at Melton last start in a very strong rating 70 to 120 event where he was not disgraced when defeated 11.5 metres.

The eight-race card will be telecast on TasracingTV and Sky Racing 1.

Some Tasmanian pacers doing battle over the next few days at metropolitan venues include;

Ballarat (Metro meeting) – Saturday night 

Race 1 Horse 9 Streitkid,

Race 4 Horse 10 El Jays Mystery,

Race 5 Horse 2 Terryrama,

Menangle – Saturday night 

Race 1 Horse 8 Harjeet.

 

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