Iylac Pakaria made it back-to-back Tasbred final wins when she scored in the 6ty° Bandbox for the three-year-old fillies in Launceston on Sunday night.
The filly won the two-year-old edition, the Evicus in Hobart last year.
Backed in from $3.20 into $2 on the Tasracing Official Price, the daughter of Betting Line was able to use her pole draw to full advantage to lead and dictate affairs on a slow first circuit before increasing the tempo over the final 1200m.
Iylac Pakaria had to dig deep late in the home straight to hold off Reely Nauti ($2.90) by 1.1m with Spot Ruler, who was having her third race start 5.6m away third in a mile rate of 2:00.3s.
“She was wicked on Sunday.
“In that sort of race with that prize money up for offer, I didn’t really expect to get the first half (of the race) as comfortable as I did,” said winning driver Mitch Ford post-race.
“She has pulled up well and was happy in the paddock on Monday,” added the driver.
Ford said he was unsure of the filly’s future plans.
The win continued a good weekend for trainer Tammy Langley, who trained the winners of the two harness races held on King Island on Saturday afternoon.
Sophie is Mal’s Golden Girl
Sidmouth trainer Malcom Jones celebrated his biggest training win of his short career when Yeah Sophie ($6.50) scored in the $20,000 Bevan Lee’s Butchery Golden Girls (2200m).
The race was restricted to four-year-old and older mares for horses that had won no more than five races from a three-year-old.
Yeah Sophie, a former Kiwi pacer who had been racing in New South Wales, was taken straight to the lead by driver Rohan Hillier and dictated affairs before kicking away over the final 150m.
“I had mentioned to Rohan Hillier that I was looking for a new horse, and a few weeks later, he told me that Adam Kelly had found one that would suit.
“I was confident she would go ok if she could find the front. She had trialled alright at Carrick two weeks ago,” said Jones.
“There is the Shirley Martin Mother Of Pearl coming up. It will be a rise in class, but I will have a look at what other mares may go in that before I decide.
“She can also drop nine points with my five-point claim added with her mares claim,” added the trainer.
