Six-year-old Courage Under Fire mare Courageous Katee bounced back into the winner’s list for the first time this season when she scored in the Tassie Wash Pace in Launceston on Friday night.
Reinsman Adrian Collins positioned the Dick Eaves-trained mare one-out and two-back in the 2200-metre event before coming with a well-timed run from the 600-metre mark.
“Dick presented the mare in great order like he always does and on the back of her run last week where she ran a sharp last half, it filled me with a bit of confidence going into the race,” said driver Adrian Collins after the win.
She proved too good for the second elect Buster William by 1.7 metres with outsider Olwen Jaccka a further 4.2-metres away in a mile rate of 1m 59.3s.
“She showed a bit more gate speed than normal and was able to hold a forward position, when I progressed three-wide down the back she was always feeling like the winner,” added the winning driver who recently joined the committee of the Carrick Park Pacing Club.
Gareth Rattray was the in-form driver of the meeting with a driving double.
He scored in the opening race aboard Stormy Sanz who defeated stable mates Indianna Sanz and Impulsive George who are all prepared by Lietinna trainer Kent Rattray.
It was back-to-back victories for the Betterthancheddar gelding who scored in Launceston the start prior on 28 June with the trainer considering aiming the pacer at an open two-year-old race on 19 July before the feature races later in the season.
The second leg of Gareth’s driving double was aboard three-year-old Rock N Roll Heaven gelding Rocknroll Curly, who raced right up to his excellent trial form.
From inside of the second row the pacer ended up three-back along the marker pegs in the 2200-metre event before working into the one-out one-back at the 1200-metre mark.
Rattray asked the pacer for the supreme effort at the 400-metre mark where he dashed away to score by 3.1 metres over a fast-finishing Bold Centurian and Heza Sport in 2m 1.2s.
Rocknroll Curly is trained by Rattray’s life partner Melissa Maine.
The Michael Laugher-trained Emjays Black Chip continued on his winning way when scoring in the final race of the night, courtesy of a lovely drive by Rohan Hillier who positioned the pacer one-out and two back before leading up the three-wide line for the final 950 metres.
Hillier was in the winner’s circle earlier in the night as a trainer with the win of Monarkmac who was driven by Conor Crook.
Marc Butler was the only trainer on the night to register multiple wins scoring with Sermac and Beachboy Butch.
