Tasmanian harness highlights

The Tasmanian harness racing community is mourning the loss of former trainer-driver Robert “Bob” Kernan.

Kernan passed away on July 1, aged 89..

He was Tasmania’s leading driver on two occasions (71/72 and 73/74), the state’s leading trainer in the 73/74 season and he won a host of Tasmanian feature races.

He was inducted into the Tasmanian Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2018.

A private funeral with immediate family was held on Monday.

Meanwhile, it was a great weekend of action last weekend, with The Shallows scoring a top win in the weekend’s feature race, the $12,000 Four and Five-Year-Old Classic held in Launceston on Sunday.

A group of north-west coast identities have been celebrating in recent weeks after Kiwi import Jimmy The Irishman recorded his second metropolitan win in Bendigo on Saturday night.

The gelded son of Big Jim is raced by Richard Viney, Kevin Redpath, Robin Cooper and Michael Redpath.

The Stars

The Shallows – continued his love affair with the Launceston track scoring in the Four & Five-Year-Old Classic on Sunday night. It was the gelded son of Shadyshark Hanover’s fifth win at his ninth start on the Launceston track. The pacer was driven a treat by his driver Heath Woods who scored a double on the card, with Stepping Stones, who scored earlier in the night and was a top effort after doing plenty of work in the early stages of the race.

Rohan Hillier – had a night out on Sunday. He trained-and-drove Flo Jo Carvalho to victory on debut in the Launceston Belmont, with the filly advertised for sale less than 24 hours after the race. Hillier prepared Kiwi import Montana Storm to an 18.7 metre victory with Conor Crook taking the reins before Hillier drove the Paul Ashwood-trained Nova Baxter to a 16.8 metre win later in the night. If that wasn’t enough, Hiller trained and drove Boston Busker to victory later in the night. The gelding is part-owned by Canberra Raiders star Jarrod Croker.

Blackbird Power – recorded his 28th career win when scoring in the night’s free-for-all. Trainer-driver Mark Yole allowed the pacer to settle back in the field before leading the one-wide line over the final 1400 metres of the race to go on and record an easy 8.6 metre victory.

Conor Crook – drove a treble on Sunday, which included a training double. As mentioned, he drove Montana Storm to victory before finishing the night in good form with former New South Wales mare Sports Candy scoring first-up in his care to the joy of some happy owners trackside, before Iden Gorgeous continued her winning way, winning her fourth race in a row.

Whey Better – broke her maiden status in Hobart on Friday evening at her 12th race track appearance. Paul Ashwood gave the Betterthancheddar filly a lovely drive behind the leader before using the sprint lane late. The filly is owned, trained and bred by Mark Geeves, who was one of two owner-breeders to secure the $12,000 Tasbred bonus across the weekend.

Multiple Winners

Hobart – Friday evening
Ben Yole -training quintuple; Deadly Assassin, Stylish Trend, Heza Rummage, Northview Dave and My Celebrity.
Troy McDonald – driving double; Stylish Trend and Northview Dave.

Launceston – Sunday evening
Rohan Hillier – training treble; Flo Jo Carvalho, Montana Storm and Boston Busker.
Conor Crook – training double; Sports Candy and Iden Gorgeous.
Heath Woods – training and driving double; Stepping Stones and The Shallows.
Rohan Hillier – driving treble; Flo Jo Carvalho, Nova Baxter and Boston Busker.
Conor Crook – driving treble; Montana Storm, Sports Candy and Iden Gorgeous.

Tasracing Calculated Sectionals

Hobart – Friday evening
Lifes A Jungle 57.53s, Northview Dave 57.74s, Bounty Eyre 57.89s, My Celebrity 57.90s and Mach Charm 57.92s.

Launceston – Sunday evening
The Dude 55.76s, Coolhand Easton 56.13s, Kuyomi 56.21s, Montana Storm 56.24s and Better Amour 56.38s.

View all available Tasmanian Sectional Data by clicking here.

Tasracing Official Price

Hobart – Friday evening
Hits: Deadly Assassin $3.80 into $3.30, Whey Better $14 into $12 and Emrites $4.40 into $2.90.

Defied The Drift: Betterthanfetta $6.00 out to $8.00, Stylish Trend $3.50 out to $4.00 and Heza Rummage $3.10 out to $3.60.

Missed: Murry $14 into $8.50, Gauci $6.00 into $3.80, Just For Dace $19 into $11, Keep Playing $6.00 into $4.20,

Launceston – Sunday evening
Hits: Stepping Stones $3.90 into $1.95, Boston Busker $3.20 into $2.45 and The Shallows $2.80 into $2.60.

Defied The Drift: Nova Baxter $1.45 out to $1.75, Blackbird Power $5.00 out to $6.50 and Iden Gorgeous $1.90 out to $2.35.

Missed: Lorimertyrrell $2.90 into $2.40, Baldasarre $21 into $10, Somehowsomeway $26 into $13, Lockaway Kacie $71 into $26, Aha Reaction $8.50 into $6.50, Racketeers Boy $2.90 into $1.95, Better Amour $21 into $13 and Richmond Tiger $4.20 into $2.50.

Trial File

Hobart – Monday evening
Former Victorian three-year-old Ifitstobeitsuptome had his first public appearance since joining the Paul Ashwood stable when scoring a 30 to 39 rated trial on Monday.

The winner of two races from 21 starts settled behind the leader before racing one-out and one back from the 600-metre point. Paul Ashwood made his move on the gelded son of Rocknroll Heaven around the home turn to score by 1.2 metres over Major Seascape in 2m 0.6s.

The remaining trials were won by Eye See Double (2m 0.4s) and Forgot The Wallet 2m 0.7s.

Week Ahead

Saturday: Trials will be held at Carrick Park from 9:00, replays will be available on this tasracing.com.au soon after.

At Albion Park in Brisbane the inaugural running of the Group 1 Rising Sun is the feature race of the weekend where there is some Tasmanian interest amongst the exceptionally large ownership base of Spirit Of St Louis who is undefeated in three starts in the country since arriving from New Zealand.

Tasmanian eyes will also be focused on the third race at Menangle where the Mick Maxfield owned Max Delight clashes with the James Rattray-trained and driven pacer Ignatius in an open class race.

Metropolitan racing in Victoria continues at regional areas with Cranbourne playing host to this week’s metro card.

Belle Of Brooklyn and Still Hungover will contest the third race which is restricted to the mares while Streitkid will go around in race eight.

Sunday: The Tasmanian Trotting Club will stage a 10-race card from 17:15, the opening race is for the two-year-olds where Magic Feeling has crossed Bass Strait after a slashing 1m 57.4s trial win a Bendigo on 5 July defeating Lightning Jash who we saw in the state in late March and early April winning two races impressively.

Pre-race trials are also scheduled

Year Ahead

Tasracing on Tuesday released the race dates for the next 12-months along with trial dates plus the feature and special race list.

Every thing you need to know can be found on this link and scrolling down to the appropriate heading on the Tasracing Corporate site.

By Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing