Open class pacers set to fly

The heats of northern Tasmania’s premier harness race, the Ladbrokes Easter Cup is just a week away, and many contenders for that series will line up at the Ladbrokes Racing Centre in Launceston tonight in the $12,000 Launceston Mile.

The intriguing runner in the race is exciting pacer Cool Water Paddy who takes on the open class pacers for the first time in his career.

The Juanita McKenzie-trained pacer has won nine of his 13 starts, with eight of those wins coming at his past eight efforts.

Ricky Duggan has driven the gelded son of Ohoka Arizona in every start, and he is looking forward to seeing how the pacer takes the next step in his career.

“He is a nice little horse, but he is stepping up to a few of the big guns this week, so it will be interesting to see how he can match up against them,” said driver Ricky Duggan when speaking on Tasracing’s From The Stables Podcast.

Only seven horses will contest the race where Duggan believes the pacer will get every chance to get a good guide going forward. 

“He has drawn the pole over the mile, so he has drawn good enough to get a good guide on how he is going to measure up with them,” said Duggan.

The one slight query punters have is if Cool Water Paddy can hold the lead early with several horses in the race possessing good gate speed and Duggan is hopeful the pacer can hold up from the good draw.

“I think he has (the speed early), he has drawn the backline a lot in his career and we have never drawn the front-row much to ask him to run the gate, on the few occasions I have asked him to come out he has come out pretty good,” said Duggan.

Duggan has won more races than any other driver in Tasmanian Harness Racing history, and he is on the verge of driving 1700 winners, he currently sits on 1697 victories.

Some of Cool Water Paddy’s rivals tonight include the Matthew Cooper-trained and driven Call Me Hector.

A winner of 17 races, Call Me Hector holds the mantle of the state’s fastest pacer when he recorded a mile rate of 1m 54.3s in Hobart last September.

The Art Major gelding loves to lead and bowl along in front in his races and coming back in distance to the sprint trip will suit the pacer whose most recent win was at the home of Victorian harness racing, Melton, in January.

Illegal Immigrant is another strong chance in the race, and the Troy Hillier-trained and driven pacer has a good record over the distance, with three starts for two wins and one placing over the distance.

You have to go back to September of 2018 to find the last time the pacer contested a race over the sprint trip when he flew around Melton in 1m 55.2s, he has high speed, and the small field suits his chances along with Call Me Hector in the race it will ensure the race is run at a handy tempo.

The other highlight on the Launceston card is the $12,000 Launceston Belmont for the two-year-old fillies.

The Ben Yole-trained Written In Silk is the race favourite with Ladbrokes at $1.85.

Written In Silk, was a $20,000 purchase at last year’s Carrick Harness Yearling Sale and she has won two trials in preparation for her race track debut tonight.

Fields for all races have been restricted to 10-horses to accommodate the Tasmanian Government’s directives regarding managing the spread of COVID-19.

Horses that raced in Hobart on Friday were the first balloted followed by those with the lowest field selection points till a field of 10 was reached.

Racing starts at 17:23.

Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing