Hobby harness racing owner Richard Hall celebrated his first winner with when his recent purchase Im Barney Rubble produced a powerful finish for a last-stride win in the Doug Martin Danbury Park Cup over 2698 metres at Launceston last night.
Im Barney Rubble, trained and driven by Rohan Hadley, settled near last while The Majority set a solid pace in front with the well-tried Dapper Dana locked away on the rails and shuffled back to last turning for home.
Dapper Dana galloped fiercely soon after the start and lost at least 60 metres but tacked onto the pack soon after.
When Black Centurian gave up the one-out-one-back spot to make his move 500 metres from home, he found the lead in the home straight, shot clear and looked the likely winner.
But Im Barney Rubble unleashed a powerful finishing burst and hit the line hard to score by a nose over Black Centurian with Dapper Dana a close-up third.
While it was a great win by the Life Sign gelding the effort of Dapper Dana was enormous and he was clearly the run of the race outside of the winner.
Hall purchased Im Barney Rubble through the claiming races process.
"I was going to buy him one night when the asking price as only $6500 but I didn't fully understand how the claiming system worked," Hall said.
"His price later went up to $10,000 but I still thought he was worth it."
Peter Staples