Doug and Shirley Martin remembered in Launceston

The Launceston Pacing Club (L.P.C) once again remembers the contribution to harness racing of the late Doug and Shirley Martin in Launceston on Sunday night.

Doug and Shirley resurrected the Danbury Park Cup back onto the feature race calendar in a big way several decades ago, even supplying trophies for the winning owners, trainers, drivers and strappers for every race on the program.

The L.P.C renamed the race the Doug Martin Danbury Park Cup after his passing in 2008 before the club moved its premier mares race to the same program, the Shirley Martin Mother Of Pearl.

Doug was the inaugural winner of Tasmanian racing’s highest honour, the Edgar Tatlow medal in 2001, and was an inaugural member of the Hall of Fame in 2014.

He worked tirelessly in the late 1960s and early 70s to assist the state in securing the totaliser, just one of many achievements.

This year’s Danbury Park Cup (2969m) sees a field of 14 accepted to contest the $14,000 race, including Tassie Golden Apple runner-up Wattabout Spanger (Stonebridge Regal).

“He was good and got the run he likes (on the pegs). It would have been good to have been a position closer,” said trainer Adrian Duggan.

“He is pretty one-dimensional, and if he does get that right run, he can be deadly late.

“The distance of the race doesn’t worry me as he has performed well over the longer trips in the past,” the trainer added.

Mickey Oh will start the race favourite.

He galloped out in the Golden Apple and made up a lot of ground on the pegs to finish sixth after a dominant Golden Apple heat win in slick time.

The Tassie Golden Apple was won by All By Myself who will start a short quote in the Shirley Martin Mother Of Pearl (2200m), a free-for-all race restricted to the mares.

The first of 10 races commences at 18:00 and can be seen on Sky Racing 1 and TasracingTV.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Duncan Dornauf, for Tasracing