Top Tasmanian harness racing trainer Rohan Hillier was looking forward to taking Denza Doozy to the races for the first time after he started to show some promise at his Beauty Point training complex.
That was until he ventured to the trials with the well-bred three-year-old early last week where he galloped and that put some doubt in Hillier's mind as to whether he could win on debut.
But the well-bred Parsons Den gelding made no mistakes on debut last Sunday night and delivered a sterling effort to win a 3YO pace over 2200m convincingly and at the lucrative price of $13.50.
“I thought he only had to get around safely to win,'' Hillier said after Denza Doozy ran home strongly to beat Kwiatkowski and Ken Two Stars.
“When I got him from James Rattray (in Sydney) about six weeks ago he told me that the horse went OK but just wasn't quite good enough for up there.
“But he took me by surprise when he galloped in a trial the other day so I would have been happy just to see him get around safely tonight.''
Denza Doozy settle4d one-out-one-back and when Hillier sent him three-wide to make his run he gathered in the leaders and went on to score impressively.
The gelding is owned and was bred by Mark Panton who has enjoyed much success over the years and in particular with this horse's half-sister Nola Mayhem that won eight of her 21 starts including a bandbox Stakes at two and a Granny Smith Stakes mares' classic as a four-year-old.
Peter Staples