Father and son duo Mark and Malcom Jones teamed up to win again with eight-year-old gelding Scotlynn Beach, who was too tough for his rivals to score in the Faithful Park Stud Pace in Launceston on Friday night.
From a second-row draw, Malcom wasted no time progressing forward to race outside the leader from the 1500m point before running to the lead at the 400m, before going on to score by 1.9m over The Dude who was flashing home late in a mile rate of 1m 58.8s for the 2200m trip.
“We were a bit worried that they were going to walk, so we thought we could go back and come into it with one run, or we would go with plan b and get around them early as he is pretty tough and as it worked out you wouldn’t have got a better drive,” said Mark Jones post-race.
The win was the second in a row for the pacer who won in Hobart on 9 January.
“He was down a lot in grade that night in a 30 to 59 race, but he is going as good as I have had him going,” added Mark.
“Because he had no points, he couldn’t get a start, so we were racing out of his class. He is fitter now as he is getting a few runs under his belt and back in his own grade,” added the Sidmouth based trainer.
Mark indicated handy pacers Kosimo, and Big Little Sis are nearing race track returns.
Two heats of the Harry Holgate Memorial were held, with the favourites scoring in both heats.
Nova Baxter scored an 11.8m win in a slick 1m 58.4s in the opening heat, while Demand Respect justified his quote when scoring by a head over Itz Montana Jet in heat two.
The $12,000 Final will be held in Launceston on 30 January.
Izaha for trainer-driver Todd Rattray, won his first race since late February in the rating 75 to 105 event, while trainer Ben Yole had a night out winning the last four races with; With Revenge (Conor Crook), Ultimate Me (Brad Elder), Ideal Investment (Conor Crook) and Arden Roanoke (Rohan Hillier).
