Brighton based junior driver Mitch Ford took driving honours at Friday night’s Hobart harness meeting with a driving treble, the second time in his short driving career that the 18-year-old has achieved the feat.
Oneofthelads kicked off his winning run when scoring by a short-half-head in the Great Northern Pace.
The gelded son of Caribbean Blaster was driven confidently early in the 2090m standing start event to end up behind the leader before finding clear racing room around the final bend.
“I didn’t want to be any further back than midfield. He is the sort of horse that needs to be on speed. Once he found the front before I handed up, I knew he would be hard to beat,” said Ford.
The middle leg of Ford’s driving treble came in the way of Mach Three gelding Velocity Stride, who recorded back-to-back wins.
“I drove for luck as he is a different horse in behind, I got out around the corner and he was good enough late,” the winning driver said.
Ford then teamed up with this season’s leading Tasmanian female trainer Bianca Heenan to take out the last race of the program with Heston Blue Chip mare, Resurgent Rebel.
“It was a strong win.
“She had been a bit unlucky with its barrier draws, but she was drawn to lead and got the cheap sectionals she needed early and was too good late,” explained Ford.
Resurgent Rebel scored by 14.8m and is eligible for the Group 2 Granny Smith later in the season, with the date and venue still to be announced for the Sires’ Stakes feature.
Ford now sits in third spot on the state’s drivers’ premiership, which also sees him with a narrow lead in the junior drivers’ title as we approach the halfway mark of the season.
Oneofthelads and Velocity Stride were a part of a training quartet for Ben Yole, who also prepared Where Ya Bin and Deadly Assassin.
Ben’s brother Mark drove a double on the card, winning with the Mark Regett-trained Buster Byron before he scored on the Christian Salter trained Iden Miss Lucy.
