Harjeet’s Launceston mile

Nine-year-old gelding Harjeet (Rocknroll Hanover) returned to the harness racing winner’s list for the first time since August when he scored dominantly in the 2023 Ladbrokes Launceston Mile on Sunday night (May 14).

Racing three-wide for the trip (with cover from the 900m), trainer-driver Todd Rattray produced the pacer four-wide at the 400m to go on and score by 4.6m over Rackemup Tigerpie ($4.20 fav) and Sunny Sanz ($5).

The mile rating of 1m 54.9s was just 0.5s outside Call Me Hector’s track record that was set in 2020.

“He was terrific.

“I know he was three-wide the trip, but he was able to get a good run into the race.

“Obviously, the mobiles suit him more than the handicaps he gets in the stands, but he has a good record in mile races as well,” said Rattray post-race.

Hajeet had started from 20 and 30m handicaps at his past five outings in some of the state’s most prestigious races, the Tasmania and Easter Cups.

The win was the middle leg of a training treble for Rattray, with two of his upcoming Raider Stakes prospects, Maebee (Bettor’s Delight) and Magician (Sweet Lou), both being on the winner’s list.

Maebee found the lead soon after the start from a second-row draw in a 0-4 lifetime win race, where he defeated stablemate Mucho Mover by a head.

“He can go pretty good when he wants to.

“His last few runs have been quite good, so hopefully, he can keep improving,” said the trainer.

Magician proved too tough for his 70 to 79-rated rivals later in the night.

“The way he worked through the week, I thought he was going to be our best chance.

Both Maebee and Magician were driven by Todd’s brother Gareth who ended the night with four winners, with Ideal Karalta and Karalta Artemis being his other winners.

The final two heats of the Tasracing Trainers Encouragement Series were also held, with Bold Centurian ($8.50) scoring in heat three and Heza A Fake, who started at $130 on the NSW TAB, scoring in the final heat.

The $30,000 Final will be held in Hobart this Sunday night.