Stablemates to do battle in Group 3 Final

The Rohan Hillier-trained harness racing duo Miss Papenhuyzen (Sweet Lou) and Baby You A Song (Sweet Lou) were born 10 days apart and have spent the majority of their lives metres apart.

On Sunday night in Hobart, they will go to battle in the Group 3 Collins Homes Granny Smith.

The pair have raced each other twice, as two-year-olds they clashed in a prelude of the Evicus where Baby You A Song, trained at the time by Paul Ashwood, scored by 12.3m.

Their most recent clash was in Launceston on 28 May, with Miss Papenhuyzen turning the tables with a 1.9m win.

Baby You A Song was beaten as a $1.45 favourite in Launceston last week, where she took on a strong rating 65 to 79 event.

“She just didn’t get a breather (in front). She got pulling just before the bell when she needed it.

“I wasn’t that disappointed with her, I think the run will do her good, and she will be hard to beat,” said Hillier.

The Sweet Lou mare is a half-relation to Hillier’s former stable star Ryley Major, and there aren’t many similarities between the two.

“She is a big lump of a mare and I couldn’t say there were (many similarities). She seems to have gotten better with age, where Ryley showed a fair bit early,” said Hillier, who will drive the mare.

“If I drove Miss Papenhuyzen, Troy (Hillier) wouldn’t have been able to drive Baby You A Song as he has a share in Miss Papenhuyzen.”

Miss Papenhuyzen, also by Sweet Lou, won the prelude in Hobart on 2 July by 21.5m when the $1.05 favourite.

“She did it in second gear.

“It was a lot better run than the week before at Mowbray, where I thought she was pretty plain when she got beat, so it was good to have her back,” said Rohan.

“She seems well and has had a really good week and will be mighty hard to beat,” he added.

Rohan also trains and drives Big Boy Mal, who lines up from the pole in the other Group 3 event, the Tas Freight Raider Stakes.

“He was disappointing in the prelude. We found a few little things wrong with him. Hopefully he can improve, but he is still a fair way off the first couple.”

One of the last lead up events for three-year-old pacers for next month’s Beautide is race 6, where Hillier drives the short-price favourite De Goey for trainer Rohan Hadley.

“I haven’t spoken to Rohan (Hadley) about what he wants to do, but the horse is learning all the time, and I reckon he will make a horse next year that’s for sure.”

The meeting commences at 17:15 and will be shown on Sky Racing 1, and TasracingTV with Matt Reid and Courtney Pearce hosting trackside.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing