Boon bowls over maiden win

Devonport harness racing trainer Shane Boon is the latest Tasmanian trainer to record his first winner after Im Rock Solid scored in the Nutrien Ag Pace in Devonport on Sunday night.

Boon, 66, has been an owner, driver, and stablehand for a number of north-west coast trainers before taking out his trainers licence in September, with his maiden win coming with his ninth starter, which was a big thrill for the trainer.

“It’s the biggest thrill I have ever had. When they turned for home he had the head in front and I thought he was going to be run down like the start before, but he just kept slogging away and when he was a healthy length in front, I knew he was home. I was that excited I near jumped the fence,” said Boon after the win.

“Me and the boys had a few beers over a couple of pizzas and sat down and relived the race about 1000 times, I reckon,” said the trainer about the post-race celebrations.

Sent out as an $8.50 chance, Boon was confident with the pacers chances after work during the week.

“I was quietly confident going into the race, he worked well on Friday, and it was the best he had worked since I have had him,” the winning trainer explained.

Im Rock Solid was handled by concession driver Mitch Ford, with the trainer full of praise for the young driver.

“It was the perfect drive as far as Mitch is concerned, he was having his first drive on the horse and he isn’t the easiest to drive. He switches on and off in the run and stuff like that,” said Boon, who’s own career in the sulky came to an end after a fall in Devonport in late 2016 which saw him end up with seven plates in his back, plus a couple of screws.

The feature race of the night was the N.W.T.L.H.A Cup, which was taken out by Lip Reader, who made it back-to-back wins in the race.

Starting off a 10m handicap in the 2645m event, driver Conor Crook settled the pacer one-out and three-back before racing three-wide with cover for the final 1100m.

Conor made his move on the Rohan Hillier prepared pacer at the 400m, with the gelded son of Sportswriter racing away from Smart Little Shard and Be Major Threat to score by 17.2m in a mile rate of 2m 2.6s, with the last quarter of 30.4s being the fastest recorded on the nine-race card.

The win rounded out a driving treble for Conor, who drove the first race winner Juniper for Ben Yole, and he also scored on Kuyomi, whom he also trains, to record his 200th career driving win.

The final eight races were brought forward from the original start times, with the last race starting over an hour earlier than scheduled due to an issue with the on-track lighting system.

As a result of the meeting being brought forward, it enabled the race meeting to conclude with natural light and was like a trip down memory lane when Tasmanian harness racing held 20 minute gaps between races every Sunday in the early 2000’s.

To view all the results from Devonport on Sunday click here.

By Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing