16 May 2019
by Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing

Two horses that have been sidelined through injury were the stand out performers on the Tasmanian harness race tracks last weekend.

In Devonport, open class pacer Ryley Major produced a brilliant performance to win the Degree C Quality while Sunny Sanz won first up at the Launceston Pacing Club race meeting on Sunday.

At Menangle on Saturday night, nine-year-old Tasbred gelding Rykov Leis won his 19th race by a narrow margin for his Smithton owner-breeders Trevor and Marjorie Leis.

This week we see racing at the TAB Racing Centre Mowbray in Launceston on Friday evening before the action heads south to TAB Park Elwick in Hobart on Sunday night.

The Stars

Sunny Sanz – he is back! And he announced his arrival with a massive statement when he produced a dominant win in Launceston on Sunday night where the Kent Rattray-trained pacer was first up for 13 months from an injury-forced lay off. Driver John Walters put the foot down at the 800-metre mark and Sunny Sanz went on to record his last half mile in 55.03s, which is the quickest-calculated last half mile in Tasmania since they have been recorded from December 2015.

Brookwillrock - the Craig Hayes-trained and driven pacer raced right up to her good trial form with an all the way win in the CUB Devonport Belmont on Friday. Brookwillrock is a daughter of Pet Rock and is the seventh foal to race out of Gallavance.

Ryley Major - once again proved his class to win the Degree C Quality in Devonport. Trainer-driver Rohan Hillier restrained the gelded son of Art Major to the tail of the field in the 1930-metre event, Ryley Major raced three wide with cover for the final 1200 metres of the race before sprinting home late to win by 1.5 metres in a mile rate of 1m 58.5s

Finn Mac Kee - recorded his first of the season in the $12,000 Sky Racing Sheffield Cup in Devonport on Friday. Driver Paul Hill had the Tommy Jackson-trained pacer poised to pounce in the one-out-one-back trail over the 2645-metre trip where he proved too strong late in the event to record his ninth career win.

Prettyindisguise – a former Victorian-trained mare who stepped out for the first time with her new trainer Rod Burgess on Friday evening where she was a dominant winner of the Max McCormack Pace. Prettyindisguise was three wide for the first lap before slotting into the one-out-one-back position at the 1500-metre mark, but 500 metres later the mare was back out leading up the three-wide line for the final 1000 metres.

Multiple Winners

Devonport – Friday evening 

Rohan Hillier- driving double; Ryley Major and Prettyindisguise.

Launceston – Sunday evening 

John Walters- driving double; Class Tells and Sunny Sanz,

Gareth Rattray- driving double; Cardinal Ringo and Redason.

Calculated Sectional Standouts

Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.

Devonport – Friday evening

Ryley Major 58.18s, Blackbird Power 58.65s, Perfect Mach 58.83s, Max Richter 59.07s and Alta Surreal 59.21s.

Launceston – Sunday evening 

Sunny Sanz 55.02s, Spoilt Sport 55.60s, Peaceful Thomas 57.35s, Machitelli 57.90s and Rocket Blaster 57.96s.

View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.

Tasracing Official Price

Devonport  – Friday evening 

Hits: Brookwillrock $2.10 into $1.50, Ryley Major $1.14 into $1.05 and Finn Mac Kee $3.30 into $2.70,

Defied The Drift: Devil Of Tyne $6.00 out to $7.00, Prettyindisguise $3.00 out to $3.30, Shadow Ross $3.00 out to $3.70 and Heidi Go Seek $3.80 out to $4.80.

Missed: Good Feelings $12 into $4.60, Destreos $21 into $14, Lake Eyre $31 into $18, Touchwood Levista $14 into $7.00, North Star Lad $2.60 into $1.95 and Midair Meltdown $8.50 into $5.50.

Launceston – Sunday evening 

Hits: Machitelli $4.00 into $3.10 and Redason $2.40 into $2.25.

Defied The Drift: Class Tells $7.00 out to $11, Cardinal Ringo $8.00 out to $10, Courageous Katee $7.00 out to $14 and Grinable $4.40 out to $6.00.

Missed: Peaceful Thomas $1.75 into $1.45, Diddley Bow $6.50 into $3.60, Couta Rocks $8.00 into $6.50, Dufrense $1.90 into $1.65, Reign Of Pain $4.80 into $3.70 and Perfect Mach $6.50 into $4.00.

Trial File

Carrick Park - Sunday morning

The Ben Yole-trained mare Nickys Logic recorded the quickest mile rate of the five trials held on Saturday morning when the daughter of  Christian Cullen recorded a mile rate of 2m 4.0s for her 2150-metre trial.

Driver Troy McDonald worked forward early to find the lead before handing up to Exciteusinthecity at the mile mark. McDonald again took Nickys Logic to the lead with 600 metres remaining, and she was able to go on and defeat Regal Idea by 10 metres with Miss Condoleezza 12-metre away third.

Other winners included two-year-old gelding Rocknroll Curly (2m 15.0s), Raymonds Judge (2m 11.2s), Gaggle Coordinator (2m 7.9s) and Art Frenzy (2m 5.4s).

Hobart - Monday evening

Strong winds descended on TAB Park Elwick on Monday evening, where last start winner Iden Forest recorded the quickest winning mile rate of the four trials in 2m 3.1s for 2090 metres.

The Matthew Howlett-driven pacer was able to hold the lead early before relinquishing that position to Animi Sub Ignis. Iden Forest went on to win the trial by one metre over Still Hungover with Popnduke a further 39-metres away third.

Other winners included; Resurgent Storm (2m 5.9s), Watchmylips (2m 10.0s) and Sutter Star (2m 8.5s).

Week Ahead

The Tasmanian Trotting Club will host the harness meeting of the week at TAB Park Hobart on Sunday night.

The first race sees three exciting three-year-old’s do battle over the mile trip including last start Launceston winner Sunny Sanz who has drawn the second row with his two main rivals, Spoilt Sport, who finished second to the Kent Rattray-trained pacer last start in barrier two and recent Hobart trial winner Sutter Star in gate one.

Sutter Star is trained by Roger Whitmore who will prepare Resurgent Storm in the final race of the night. The Betterthancheddar colt was a 40-metre trial winner in Hobart on Monday.

Both Roger Whitmore trained runners will be driven by hall of fame reinsman Gareth Rattray.

The Hobart card will be televised on Sky Racing 1 and tasracing.com.au with the first race to commence at 17:05.

The weekend action in the state will kick off in Launceston on Friday night.

Race seven on the card is for the two-year-old’s where Watchmylips will be looking to bounce back into the winner’s circle after his last start second to Kadar in Launceston.

The race will be a good guide as the youngsters prepare for a host of feature races over the next two months including the Hobart Belmont, the Sweepstakes series, Evicus Final and the Dandy Patch Final.

TAB will have a $1,000 Quaddie Jackpot on the UTAB Pool as well as a $927 Daily Double jackpot on races four and five.

The first race in Launceston is set down for 17:17 and you can catch the action on Sky Racing 2 and tasracing.com.au

Interstate this week at Melton on Saturday night we see Tasmanian-owned pacers No Apachemee go around in race one and Devonport Cup winner Isaac, will contest race 11.