The curtain has fallen on another harness racing season.
Ben Yole claimed another trainers title (124 wins) defeating Todd Rattray (71) and Juanita McKenzie (33).
Todd Rattray claimed back-to-back driving titles recording 87 victories in the sulky over Ricky Duggan (80) and Rohan Hillier (79). The second spot on the driver’s title was keenly contested over the past few weeks with the driver who finished second on the table joining Todd Rattray at the Australian Drivers Championship this season. Going into the last race Duggan and Hillier sat equal on 79 wins but Duggan was able to guide Rocknroll Dancer to victory at odds of $18 on the TasRacing Official Price.
Conor Crook won the state’s junior driver title by one win, Juanita McKenzie claimed another female trainer’s title while Hannah Van Dongden held onto a narrow win in the female driver’s premiership.
This week’s Harness Racing heads to Launceston on Friday evening where long-serving clerk of the course, David Mace will retire for the position that he has served in since the late 1970’s.
The Stars
Ben Yole – finished off the season on a high note training seven winners in the final two meetings of the season in Hobart last week. Yole finished the season on 124 Tasmanian wins which equalled the state record that he set the year prior. Yole had a staggering 2134 starters in the state during the 2017-2018 season which is a state record for either racing code in Tasmania.
Bianca Heenan – the Brighton-based trainer was another to finish off the season in good fashion training three winners from her five starters across last week’s meetings which included a training double on Wednesday night.
Inner Light – the Christian Cullen gelding had a tremendous season and recorded his ninth win of the season with another win in Hobart on Friday. The Juanita McKenzie-trained pacer has also recorded nine placings from 23 starts during the season that has just concluded.
Redason – recorded his second win since arriving in the state in the Rexel North Hobart Trot. The Rodney Ashwood trained trotter in five Tasmanian starts has earned his connections just under $9,000 in prize money.
Mark Yole – demonstrated his ability in the sulky driving six winners last week to finish fifth on the state drivers table.
Multiple Winners
Hobart – Wednesday
Ben Yole – training quartet; Thebackpagescribe, Rocknrollhighlight, Ektoras and No Apachemee.
Bianca Heenan – training double; Big Bang Raj and Alta Surreal.
Mark Yole – driving treble; Big Bang Raj, Alta Surreal and Rocknrollhighlight.
Rohan Hillier – driving double; Thebackpagescribe and No Apachemee.
Hobart – Friday
Ben Yole – training treble; Mornings, Pushkin and Shadow Control.
Mark Yole – driving treble; Mornings, Pushkin and Shadow Control.
Ricky Duggan – driving double; Inner Light and Rocknroll Dancer
Calculated Sectional Standouts
Quickest last halves (800m) from last week’s action.
Hobart – Wednesday
Couta Rocks, 57.98s, Alta Surreal 58.04s, Mavis Merle 58.56s, Reckless Abandon 58.61s and Albayzin 58.71s.
Hobart – Friday
Mornings 58.26s, Wattabout Spangher 58.54s, Flashy Ruler 58.61s, Adele Said 58.87 and Mon Poppy Bronte 58.89s.
You can view sectionals from every runner from both meetings and more Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.
Tasracing Official Price
Hobart – Wednesday
Hit’s: Thebackpagescribe $26 into $14 and Big Bang Raj $3.20 into $2.60.
Defied The Drift: Ektoras $6.00 out to $8.00, Rocknrollhighlight $2.70 out to $3.50 and Alta Surreal $3.00 out to $3.70.
Missed: Miss Superbia $19 into $5.50, Bounty Eyre $9.50 into $7.00 and Tizyalator $4.40 into $3.40.
Hobart – Friday
Hit’s: Pushkin $12 into $8.50, Inner Light $4.00 into $2.15 and Redason $2.60 into $2.30.
Defied The Drift: Demonstrative $7.50 out to $12, Rocknroll Dancer $14 out to $18 and Shadow Control $4.40 out to $5.50.
Missed: Arrived In Time $31 into $16, Sheer Strength $21 into $8.00 and Monarkmac $12 into $5.50.
Trial File
Carrick Park on Saturday morning.
Only one trial was held with a field of three horses facing the starter. Williamlee was able to hold the lead from barrier one to lead all the way to win by just under a metre over Padabing Stride in a mile rate of 2mins 7.7sec.
Hobart on Monday night.
It was the Conor Crook show at the Elwick Racing Complex with the concession driver winning the two trials staged.
His first win came for his boss Ben Yole in the standing start trial where Chilla Breeze scored by 10-metres in a mile rate of 2min 7.6sec for the 2090-metre trip.
Olwen Jaccka came from last to win the mobile trial of the night, defeating Mon Poppy Polly by one metre in a mile rate 2min 7.1sec.
Week Ahead
The action this week’s returns to Launceston in the twilight time zone for an eight-race card.
The main race of the night and one of the most intriguing events on the programme is the David Mace Retirement Stakes.
The Troy Hillier-trained Illegal Immigrant will be looking for a hat-trick of wins when he has his first attempt at C6 or better grade, and judging by the dominance of his last to first victory in a slick 1min 57sec mile rate in Launceston on August 24 you would expect that he is ready to take the next step to open grade.
His rivals on Friday night include The Aussie who was the winner of six races from 20 starts last season including his most recent racetrack appearance in Hobart in mid-August. The five-year-old entire is expected to race up on the speed from his pole draw, while Taurisi (last start winner) and Star Chamber come into the race recording the two quickest last half miles of the meeting when they clashed here on August 24.
The start time of race one has been brought forward to 17:19 and the meeting can be seen on Tasracing’s Live Stream service.
Sky Racing 1 will televise race one with races two through to eight to be shown on Sky Racing 2.
Interstate this week at Metropolitan venues across Australia we see;
Melton – Saturday night
Race 6 Horse 7 The Bettormack and Horse 10 Resurgent Spirit,
Race 7 Horse 8 Sultan Fella.
Menangle – Saturday night
Race 5 Horse 9 Pachacuti.
Albion Park – Saturday night
Race 1 Horse 2 Jerrys Jet,
Race 3 Horse 12 Vande Velde.
Duncan Dornauf