Samantha Gangell and Conor Crook will make late bids for driving premiership honours in tonight’s penultimate harness racing meeting of the season in Hobart.
Samantha currently sits second on the Leading Female Drivers table, level with Natalee Emery and two wins behind Hannah Van dongen, who currently has just the one drive Stylish Trend over the two meetings in Hobart in the next three days.
Gangell has seven opportunities to close the gap, three drives tonight and another four chances on Friday.
Young Bruiser kicks off Samantha’s night and despite being served up at odds of $26 he figures prominently in Tasracing harness live stream host Duncan Dornauf’s selections in tonight’s live stream coverage available from 17.00.
Samantha’s second drive is Streetside Classic, trained by Mark Geeves, again highly rated by Duncan and has been tipped third by Tasracing form analyst Jamie Cockshutt.
Streetside Classic has won two races this season and has been placed at three of its last five starts and comes off a last start fourth behind top-liner Similan Beach during the Botra Drivers Series in July.
Hit The Lights (pictured), trained by Mark Geeves, is the top selection by Jamie Cockshutt and is the second tip in Duncan’s view and is currently quoted at $3.80.
At first glance it would be hard to become enthused by the recent efforts of having finished last or send last at the five-year-old’s last four starts, however, Jamie is of the belief Samantha can either lead or settle third on the pegs and take advantage of the Roberts Sprint Lane.
Conor Crook has enjoyed by far his best season to date, sitting ninth on the State Drivers Premiership table and he is currently level pegging with the sidelined Dylan Ford on 20 wins, five clear of third-placed Jack Laugher in the Junior Drivers Title.
Conor has 12 drives over the two meetings in Hobart before the end of the season and will be in the gig on six occasions tonight, his best chance looking to appear in the last on the card with the Ben Yole-trained mare Ready to Fire at $ 6.50.
Tonight’s seven-event Tasmanian Pacing Club card, commencing at 17.15, can be seen via the live stream service at tasracing.com.au.
Shane Yates