The Group 3 Hardings Hotmix Devonport Pacing Cup headlines a 10-race card at the Devonport Showgrounds on Sunday night.
The Cup once again is a standing start event over the true staying trip of 3020 metres.
Those wishing to attend the meeting are encouraged to get their tickets for the at goracingtasmania.com.au. If you can’t make it trackside, you can catch all the action with Matt Reid who will host TasracingTV’s on track coverage, with the Cup scheduled for 20:34 and the first race for 17:19.
1. Goggo Gee Gee
Trainer: Rachel Williams
Driver: Ben Parker
Handicap: Front
Ladbrokes Odds: $41
Was defeated a neck in this race last year behind Illegal Immigrant. He is yet to win in 14 tries on the Devonport track. Although he hasn’t won since last years Burnie Cup, the Bettors Delight gelding has produced some fantastic efforts including a second placing in a heat of the Tasmania Cup before finishing fifth in the final. He finished fourth in last weeks North Eastern Pacing Cup at Carrick Park
2. Tisu Spirit
Trainer: Mark Yole
Driver: Mark Yole
Handicap: Front
Ladbrokes Odds: $10
Is another who hasn’t won on the Devonport track in five tries, but he has won three of his six standing start races to date, the most recent in last weeks North Eastern Pacing Cup where he showed brilliant standing start manners to cross Goggo Gee Gee early. Trainer-driver Mark Yole will be chasing his second win in the race after scoring with Riverboat Jasper in 2018.
3. Finn Mac Kee
Trainer: Thomas Jackson
Driver: Paul Hill
Handicap: Front
Ladbrokes Odds: $21
Goes into the Group 3 feature second-up from a spell. His first-up effort was a third placing behind Drayton in a rating 70 to 79 event in Hobart. As we saw with his last win in the 2020 New Norfolk Pacing Cup in Hobart over the 3060-metre trip, he is proven at the long distance. He will be driven by Paul Hill, as has been the case in a large number of the nine-year-old’s starts. Hill won the Cup aboard Drizzle in 1994.
4. The Crimson Prince
Trainer: Geoffrey Smith
Driver: Gareth Rattray
Handicap: Front
Ladbrokes Odds: $6.00
Is the sole north-west coast trained pacer in the race after being purchased by clients of the Geoff Smith stable. The five-year-old gelding gets into the race well off the front mark considering he has won four-metropolitan class races in the past 12-months including the 2020 Albury Pacing Cup, which no doubt Tasmanians will use as a form line where he defeated 2019 Tasmania Cup winner Shelby Bromac.
5. Be Major Threat
Trainer: Tammy Langley
Driver: Dylan Ford
Handicap: Front
Ladbrokes Odds: $9.50
Brighton trainer Tammy Langley has only been training for a short amount of time, and she will team up with her son Dylan with this six-year-old gelding. Be Major Threat has won two out of his last five starts including three starts ago in Launceston in a rating 65 to 74 event. The gelding goes into the race off a last-start third in the North-Eastern Pacing Cup where he galloped out his first few strides before running on well from back in the field to only be 1.8 metres from the winner.
6. Kardesler
Trainer: Juanita McKenzie
Driver: Ricky Duggan
Handicap: Front
Ladbrokes Odds: $9.00
Well, this pacer has the right combination to win the Group 3 feature. His driver Ricky Duggan has won five of them (1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2012) and his trainer Juanita McKenzie had the quinella in the race in 2019 with a short-half-head between her two runners. Kardesler can be hit and miss from the tapes but he was able to lead all the way to win the Meander Valley Cup at Carrick Park two starts ago and was a brave second in the North Eastern Pacing Cup last week.
7. Izaha
Trainer: Todd Rattray
Driver: Todd Rattray
Handicap: 10m
Ladbrokes Odds: $21
Loves the Devonport track, he has had six starts at the venue for four wins and one placing. The six-year-old entire hasn’t won since the 2019 N.W.T.L.H.A Cup on the track over the 2698-metre journey which he started of a 30-metre handicap. While it may look like a long time on paper, the pacer has only had six starts since that effort and is first-up in the race, and he goes into the race off a recent Carrick Park trial win. His trainer-driver has won two Devonport Cup as once as a trainer and one as a trainer-driver.
8. Full Speed Ahead
Trainer: Mark Yole
Driver: Adrian Collins
Handicap: 10m
Ladbrokes Odds: $81
Surprisingly is yet to win in 10 starts on the Devonport track, but has run three placings including a third in this race last year when defeated 4.8 metres. The 10-year-old gelding was back in winning form in a standing start claimer in Launceston two starts ago before failing to beat a runner home in the Hobart Pacing Cup two weeks ago after being given a lovely run throughout. The Cup will be the pacers 100th career start.
9. Sea Double Ugrant
Trainer: Peter Dornauf
Driver: Rohan Hadley
Handicap: 10m
Ladbrokes Odds: $6.50
Has won 11 of his 39 starts to date, his most recent was in a rating 61 to 84 event at a secondary meeting in Hobart last June. The seven-year-old gelding sat one-out and two-back in the Tassie Golden Apple when defeated six-metres by The Shallows. He then went to Hobart last week where he ran Lip Reader down to a head. He is proven at the longer distance winning the 2019 New Norfolk Cup in Hobart over the 3060-metre trip. His driver Rohan Hadley will be chasing his fifth win in the race after scoring in 1991, 1998, 2007 and 2016.
10. Lip Reader
Trainer: Rohan Hillier
Driver: Conor Crook
Handicap: 20m
Ladbrokes Odds: $7.00
Has come up with a 20-metre handicap on the back of a win in a $8,100 Discretionary Handicap in Hobart last week. The six-year-old gelding will be looking to remain undefeated on the Devonport track after winning the N.W.T.L.H.A Cup and a Discretionary Handicap in Devonport last November. Two starts ago he put up a great battle with The Shallows in the Tassie Golden Apple where 3.8 metres separated the duo at the finish.
11. Call Me Hector
Trainer: Matthew Cooper
Driver: Troy McDonald
Handicap: 20m
Ladbrokes Odds: $14
Hector the track record collector, the six-year-old gelding holds the mantle as the fastest pacer to race on Tasmanian soil, holding track records at both Hobart and Launceston. His standing start manners have been a lot better in recent times, he began well in the Tassie Golden Apple before he locked wheels with another runner that galloped away which resulted in Troy McDonald being dislodged from the sulky. He has been placed third in two runs since, including the Hobart Pacing Cup two starts ago.
12. Ryley Major
Trainer: Rohan Hillier
Driver: Rohan Hillier
Handicap: 30m
Ladbrokes Odds: $3.30
Gets in well at the 30-metre handicap given everything the eight-year-old gelding has achieved in his 48-start career where only once he hasn’t been among the top three place getters past the post. He won the numerous feature aged races including the 2016 Tasmanian Derby and Globe Derby Stakes before being sidelined through injury. When he returned he picked up where he left off with a win at Melton in March 2019, before being placed in the 2019 Easter Cup. He then won the 2019 Devonport Quality, with other feature wins including the 2019 Group 3 Tassie Golden Apple, 2020 Listed Hobart Pacing Cup, 2020 Metropolitan Cup and the 2020 Group 2 Tasmania Cup off a 30-metre back mark. If he is at his best he looks well placed to add the 2021 Devonport Pacing Cup to his resume and give his trainer-driver Rohan Hillier the chance to follow in the footsteps of his brother Troy who won the race last year with Illegal Immigrant.
