Seven months away not enough to stop ‘Gordie’

Lightly-raced Life Sign gelding Gordievsky Leis picked up where he left off last preparation when he scored in Hobart on Sunday night.

The pacer scored in Devonport on 27 November 2020 and wasn’t seen in public until Sunday evening, when he scored a last stride win in the Nutrien Sprint Lane Pace over 2090 metres. Watch the replay here.

After initially finding the lead, trainer-driver Todd Rattray elected to take cover near the 1500 metre point, before scoring a short half-head victory in a mile rate of 2:02.7.

“I thought there was going to be a bit of pressure if I led, so I decided to hand up. I was able to get on to the back of the Vonns Angel around the turn and grab her right on the line,” said Rattray post-race.

Backed in from $4.80 into $3.70 favourite, Rattray was expecting a forward showing from Gordievsky Leis despite the pacer not having a public trial.

“He had been working good at home, so we decided to bring him to the races and see how he went,” said the Longford based trainer.

The trainer-driver expects improvement to come from the four-year-old’s last preparation.

“He was pretty big and immature early on in his career, and that bit of time off has probably helped, plus he has had a few problems that hopefully we have sorted and keep on top of now,” said the trainer.

Leading trainer Ben Yole continued his winning way on the nine-race card.

Last week Yole prepared five winners at the Devonport meeting, the 11th time he had achieved the feat, but he went a step further on Sunday with six winners.

His winners included Written In Silk ($10), Fury Dan ($8.50), Aha Reaction ($6.00), Oneofthelads ($3.40), Brian Who ($4.20 fav), and Captain Cosmonaut ($1.55 fav).

It was the second time Yole had landed six winners at a single meeting, the other occurrence being in Devonport on 17 January of this year.

Northdown trainer Geoff Smith continued his excellent association with driver Mark Yole to score with Rambleon ($5.00), while former Victorian pacer Yorkshire justified his $1.07 quote to win the open class race of the night.

The A Rocknroll Dance gelding is prepared by Juanita McKenzie and was driven by Rodney Ashwood.

By Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing