Hillier hoping Jimmy has the luck of the Irish

Fresh off a brilliant first-up win, six-year-old gelding Jimmy The Irishman (Big Jim) will be looking for his second Tasmanian harness racing win when he lines up in the Prydes Easifeed Brighton Cup on Sunday night (Apr. 23) in Hobart.

The Big Jim gelding won one of his first six starts in New Zealand before arriving in Victoria and winning six of his 12 starts before an injury-enforced break, which saw him end up in Tasmania under the care of Rohan Hillier.

“He did a tendon and his trainer at the time Adam Kelly gave him six months off and brought him back and thought he may have done it again, so he tipped him back out. Adam then got sick and suggested he come down to me,” Hillier explained.

Hillier gave Jimmy The Irishman a trial at Carrick Park on 1 April before coming out and winning the Kevin Gillies Memorial on Easter Cup night in Launceston a week after.

“I didn’t think he had been working too flash here, but I was rapt with how he trialled, and I had spoken to Adam, who said he improves when you take him off the place.

“I was confident going into Launceston, my only concern was 2698 metres, but I expect him to improve off that run a bit.

“That was his first stand, and he just couldn’t of cared less,” said Hillier.

“I would be confident that if the Easter Cup was this week and he was off the front, he would be right in it. That’s the kind of horse I expect he is,” added the trainer-driver.

Despite winning two metropolitan class races in Victoria, Jimmy The Irishman is racing a point above his National Rating in Sunday’s Brighton Cup, where he will start from the pole in the 2579m standing start event.

“Barring a bit off bad luck, I expect him to be right in that race on Sunday,” said Hillier, who will also take the drive.

The Brighton Cup is race six on the 10-race card, which features five heats of the Cavalor Equicare Novice Drivers Series.

The first race is scheduled for an earlier start time of 16:22.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Duncan Dornauf, for Tasracing