First winner in seven years

Lightly raced four-year-old Spring Queen delivered Beaconsfield harness racing trainer Damian Spring with his first training win since 2014 when the daughter of Pet Rock scored in Launceston on Sunday night.

Admittedly, Damian has had less than 25 starters since that win and was delighted after Sunday’s victory.

Spring Queen utilised her pole draw to full advantage with driver Todd Rattray happy to hold the lead and dictate affairs and cling on to a narrow victory by a head margin over the fast-finishing Loyola Trios. Click here to watch the replay.

“She did well at her first start in Devonport, she over-raced and hit a wheel on the first corner which didn’t help the situation, but Nathan Ford who drove her suggested a few gear changes on her, so we did those, and it proved well on Sunday night,” said Damian who was not at the meeting due to illness.

“She has shown a bit of ability, she did an injury in August last year and she had to have nine months off, so I have just brought her back up slowly this time in  and she has come back a bit bigger and stronger,” explained the trainer.

“I was working for Chester Bullock and he scaled his numbers right back and he offered her to me and that’s how I ended up with her,” said the winning trainer and part-owner.

Damian, who works as a barrier attendant at many thoroughbred meetings across the state, also runs a pre-training and breaking in business with his sister-in-law Sam Freeman, who is also a part-owner.

With connections getting their Tasbred bonus out of the way, they have no firm plans going forward.

“We will just pick out some races and potter around, nothing too serious, she has some gate speed which is handy, but she can sit up and dash home so that is a plus as well,” added the trainer.

It was a good night for horses prepared in the Tamar Valley region.

Two-year-old Biglittlesis led all the way to break her maiden and collect her Tasbred bonus when leading all the way to win the two-year-old event by 18.2 metres, for Sidmouth-based trainer Mark Jones, with his son Malcom in the sulky.

Beauty Point’s Rohan Hiller prepared Itz Montana Jet to a 21.5-metre win, which completed a driving double for Hillier who partnered Nova Baxter to a dominant success earlier on the program.

While leading trainer Ben Yole, who is also based in the region, prepared a treble with Endeavour Stride, Rocks Roy and Cool Scooter.

The fast class race of the night was won by Smart Little Shard, who led all the way to defeat short price favourite Cool Water Paddy by 13.6 metres.

Smart Little Shard was well rated in front by Mitch Ford and is prepared at Brighton by Bianca Heenan, and will be one of the chances for the Tassie Golden Apple, which kicks off with heats on Friday evening.

To view the results from Launceston on Sunday click here.

By Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing