Moth Hunter commences Granny Smith prep with a victory

Moth Hunter (Huntsville) ($4.60) began her preparation for next month’s $60,000 Granny Smith with a first-up harness racing win in the Anne Campbell Memorial (1609m) in Hobart on Sunday night.

The four-year-old daughter of Huntsville settled one out and one back.

Driver Ricky Duggan made his move three-wide at the 400m, and the mare responded to the driver’s urgings late to score by a head over Crack The Vault ($5) and Magic Joe ($1.85 fav) in 1:58.7s.

Trainer John Castles was delighted with the win.

“She has always shown she has a good kick when held up.

“She can run out of the gate pretty quick too, so we have plenty of options going forward with her,” said the trainer.

The win was the second leg of a training double for John, who won earlier in the night with Nancys Hope ($1.28 fav) in the Kelsand Saddlery Maiden (1609m).

Also a four-year-old daughter of Huntsville, the mare had been knocking on the door to record her maiden win after being placed in 15 of her 19 career starts.

“That monkey on her back turned into a big gorilla, so we are glad to get rid of it.

“Half the time, she has been beaten by horses better than her, and when she has run second, there has often been big margins back to third,” said the trainer.

The mare was driven by the quietly spoken Matthew Howlett, who became a father during the week after his partner Maddie White gave birth to their first child, Mackenzie.

Charlie Castles would have driven both Moth Hunter and Nancys Hope, but he was on the sidelines due to suspension. Still, he was successful on the card, training Just Tiger ($1.60 fav) to victory in the Kristy Butler Equine Sports Therapy Pace (1609m), with Todd Rattray in the sulky.

“Todd said he felt good and did it pretty comfortable.

“We will just pick our races. He is qualified from the stands, so we have that up our sleeves.

“He is a race horse, not a track worker. We are lucky that it isn’t the other way around,” Charlie said after the win, which was Just Tiger’s fourth consecutive victory.

Trainer-driver Heath Woods took two horses to the meeting, and he left with two winners.

His open-class star, The Shallows ($4), recorded his 24th career win in a Discretionary Handicap (2090m) when outstaying his rivals in a 56.6s last-half mile.

Wood’s progressive three-year-old Custom Harley ($5) recorded a narrow win later in the night in a rating 57 to 66 event over 2090m, where he ran a mile rate of 1:58.6s and showed that he is on track for some of the feature Three-Year-Old races in the coming months.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Duncan Dornauf, for Tasracing