Sunny Sanz claims Easter Cup

Sunny Sanz (Sportswriter) returned to winning form to claim Saturday night’s $75,000 Ladbrokes Easter Cup in Launceston.

The seven-year-old Sportswriter harness racing gelding claimed the Devonport Cup earlier this season and had been placed in three of six starts since, but after finishing down the track in the two heats of the race and a heat of the Tasmania Cup, he was sent out in the Group 3 feature at odds of $61.

“You sort have got to drive this horse quiet, he has got powerful sprint when you can use it, but you have got to use it at the right time, and thankfully we did tonight,” said Gareth Rattray, after claiming his second win in the race.

“A few things happened with a few horses (being retired from the race), and I was able to get off before turning into the back.

“I pulled out at the 500m, and he did the rest,” explained the driver.

Sunny Sanz raced away from his rivals in the home straight to go on and score by 9.7m over Like A Wildfire ($2.20 fav), who finished second for the second consecutive year, with Khaki Nui ($26) 3.6m away third in a mile rating of 1m 59.6s.

“It was a bit of a surprise, a lap out, I was watching Colby Sanz being eased out of the race trying to work out what was wrong, he ended up pulling a shoe, and I got a bit down about it not knowing at that stage, and then things kept opening up for Sunny over the last lap,” said trainer Kent Rattray, with the win also being his second victory in the race.

“Gareth came back in after the race last week and said he travelled good, worked into the race well and that everything until about halfway up the straight was good, but he didn’t finish off.

“He recommended that I put a Heidez Hood and some pull-down blinds on him.

“I put the Heidez Hood on him for last night but left the blinds off him as I had tried them in the past, and they didn’t work that well on him,” explained Kent.

“I didn’t do much work with him during the week, he never went in the cart from the heat to the final, and it ended up being his third run in three weeks, just like it was for the Devonport Cup.

“We have always felt that maybe we have been a bit hard on him, but maybe that is what he needs to get fit enough to run a journey,” the winning trainer said.

Sunny Sanz is owned and bred by Nathan and Sandra Bennett, who have been patient with the pacer.

He sustained a suspensory issue as a two-year-old, and at three, he broke a pedal bone.

“They have been very patient. Every time we have had to do something, they don’t get upset.

“Nathan just says if that’s what we have got to do, then let’s do it,” said Kent.

Kent was still determining the short-term plan with Sunny Sanz, but a six to eight-week spell is definitely on the cards.

The following days will decide whether that will be before or after next month’s $20,000 Launceston Mile.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Duncan Dornauf, for Tasracing