Luck needed in Elite Smoken Up Sprint field

Captain Hammerhead (Captaintreacherous) will be needing luck on his side in Saturday night’s Hyland Harness Colours Group 3 Smoken Up Sprint.

The David Moran-trained pacer has to contend with a tricky draw and star-studded field featuring boom pacer Leap To Fame if he is to put his hand up for next week’s Sportsbet Victoria Cup.

The four-year-old is making his race day return for the first time since suffering an irregular heartbeat in his outing at Menangle on August 31.

“He is good, he worked awesome this morning (Oct 2),” Moran said.

“We will need to find another couple of legs to keep up with Leap To Fame.”

The son of Rogers Passion made his return via the Shepparton trials last week.

“He was good in his trial, and he had a pretty reasonable trial,” Moran said.

The winner of close to $250,000 has drawn barrier 10 for Saturday night’s Group 3 event.

“We didn’t get the draw we really needed. In saying that, they are going to go hard and are probably going to break 50 (1.50min mile rate) or go close to it,” the 37-year-old said.

“It is going to be pretty hard from the draw, it is going to be hard to really stamp your authority and push for a spot.

“Whatever he does, he does. We don’t really care if he gets a run in the Victoria Cup or not.”

Reinsman Nathan Jack is set to pilot the pacer for the 1720m journey.

“He is going to be looked after to a degree and there are no real plans with him,” Moran said.

The $50,000 Hyland Harness Colours Smoken Up Sprint is set to go at 6.35pm.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Lachlan Mitchell, for Harness Racing Victoria