Seven-year-old Bettors Delight gelding Vanquish Stride is Tasmania’s new state record holder after winning the $20,000 Bevan Lee’s Butchery Golden Mile (1680m) in Launceston on Sunday night.
The Wayne Yole-trained pacer had a soft run on the pegs and finished off best in a mile rate of 1:53.1s, breaking the state record for the third time this year.
Driver Liam Older described the win as being in the top five of his career.
“He was there about of late at his last few and was working up to a win.
“I was three-back the fence majority of the race, which is where I anticipated I would be, and when De Goey came off the fence and I got onto the back of the leader, it made a big difference,” said Older.
Vanquish Stride won by 2.1m over Stepping Stones ($61) and The Shallows ($6).
It was the first win in 17 Tasmanian starts for the pacer, who raced before arriving in the state predominantly in open class racing at Melton, including an open class win in 1:53.7s in June last year.
The win kicked off the first leg of a training treble for Yole, who has also had success with We Salute You ($4) and Modern Jive ($12).
The program also featured preludes of the 4YO Tasbred series.
In the Ladbrokes Granny Smith Prelude (2200m), it was the Todd Rattray-trained and driven Swiatek Leis ($6.50) securing the win.
The Vincent mare settled four-back on the running line before improving into the race from the 700m. The mare ran down Sabine ($3.50 fav) and Le Betty ($4) in 1:57.0s.
If successful in the $60,000 Final, Swiatek Leis will become the first horse to win all three age divisions of the Tasbred series.
Rattray also had success earlier in the night with Rainbow Ranger ($3.20 fav).
In the Tasfreight Raider Stakes Prelude (2200m), Do It ($2.70 fav) for Victorian trainer Tayla Fellows and former Tasmanian driver Jack Laugher led all the way to score by 8m in 1:57.9s.
Both finals of the Raider Stakes and the Granny Smith will be run over the traditional 2698m distance on 20 July, where all horses that competed in the preludes will be first selected.
North-west coast based trainer-driver Charlie Castles was another participant to record a double on the card with Maddis Tiger ($3.90) and Spot Ruler ($1.50 fav).
The meeting was delayed just prior to race four due to a lighting issue, which was rectified so that the meeting could continue.
