The state’s leading trainer Ben Yole has catapulted himself to within striking distance of breaking his own record of 124 winners, set last season, after preparing four winners on the Tasmanian Pacing Club’s meeting in Hobart on Wednesday night.
Ben struck first in race three with the Rohan Hillier driven Thebackpagescribe (pictured) careering away for a dominant 26.4 metre victory at odds of $14.
“It’s been a long time between drinks for the six-year-old gelding as its last win was in December of 2015 but Rohan (Hillier) pulled out a magical drive to land the money after drawing outside the second line in a field of 12,” said Ben.
“Approaching the bell he was four back the pegs but angled one off toward the 800-metre pole and only hooked out to make his run at the 300, it was a textbook drive and once Thebackpagescribe got into the clear it was all over.”
Rocknrollhighlight was sent out the favourite ($3.50) in race five and was cooly driven by Mark Yole in the early stages before powering home over the concluding stages.
“There were only seven runners over the 2090 metres and they quickly broke into two divisions, Mark had his confidence up after driving an early double for Bianca (Heenan) with Big Bang Raj and Alta Surreal, and he judged his run on Rocknrollhighlight to perfection coming from well back to gain the day by a half-head margin over another of our team Monarkmac.” said Ben.
Conor Crook sewed up the Junior Driver Title when he piloted Ektoras to the post for his twenty-first winner of the season in the Olympus Feeds Pace over 2090-metres.
“It’s great to see Conor rewarded for his efforts this season, he’s worked hard and is prepared to listen to advice and the proof is in the pudding every time he hops in the cart,” said Ben.
“Conor made a race-winning move in the first circuit dashing Ektoras to the lead and despite being the outsider of the field ($8) of six he managed to lift the seven-year-old over the line to score by a half-neck.”
Noapachemee, starting popular pick ($2.70) in the last race of the night, capped off the celebrations for the Yole stable by taking full advantage of the Roberts Sprint Lane to send favourite punters home on a winning note start.
“Rohan (Hillier) drove a classic race on Noapachemee, he’s been a model of consistency and has won seven races for the season and he will attempt to make it eight when he comes off the 20-metre handicap in race three on Friday night.”
Ben will take a team of 38 to the final meeting of the season on Friday in Hobart in search of another four winners in his bid to set a new record.
Shane Yates