Iden Sir Frankie dominates in Max McCormack

Iden Sir Frankie (Lincoln Royal) opened his winning account with a dominant harness racing win in the $14,000 Max McCormack in Launceston on Sunday night.

The Lincoln Royal colt settled second-last before improving into the race over the final 900m.

The Rohan Hillier-driven three-year-old was able to run down the race favourite Theuglysister over the concluding stages, for a 3.9m win, with Sabalenka Leis ($31), a further 6.6m away third, in a mile rating of 2m 2.2s.

Trainer Kristy Butler acknowledged post-race the patience of the pacer’s connections.

“He is just a big immature horse.

“He was never going to make a two-year-old, but all the owners have been fantastic and have given us plenty of time to bring him back halfway through his three-year-old season.

“Physically, he has matured into a really nice horse, but now he has got to work on that mental side,” the trainer explained.

Despite the pacer’s poor manners in Hobart on debut, the trainer was confident the $15 chance could run well in last night’s race.

“We thought he could go close to winning first-up, and he just freaked out under the lights,” she said.

“We are going to give him a couple of weeks freshen up and then aim him at the Globe Derby and those sort off races,” Butler added.

Iden Sir Frankie was the third winner of four purchases of the Butler stable at the 2021 Carrick Yearling Sale.

The other feature race on the Launceston card was the $20,000 Discretionary, which was taken out by the Kent Rattray-trained Colby Sanz ($31), who was taken straight to the lead after a brilliant beginning by driver John Walters.