CARRICK PARK trainer-driver Mark Yole caused somewhat off an upset win with eight-year-old gelding Blackbird Power in the $12,000 C.U.B Quality in Devonport on Sunday night.
The gelded son of Mach Three got out to $61 in the early stages of the commencement of the Tasracing Official Price before firming into $17 when betting closed.
From gate three in the 1930 metre event, Yole drove a confident race in the early stages to race outside the leader, and the gelding proved too tough late for the race favourite Scooterwillrev, who had clear racing room over the final 300 metres after settling three-back the marker pegs.
The mile rate was recorded in 1m 58.9s, a handy run on the Devonport track considering the rain-affected conditions.
“I was really happy with his run, I thought he would run a nice race and he did,” said Yole after the race.
“He was dropping back from the stands where he has been losing a lot of ground easy and finishing with them so the change in the conditions and a drop in distance was a big help,” added the winning trainer-driver
The win was Blackbird Power’s first victory in Devonport at his fifth start at the coastal venue and the pacers first win since early July, and ironically it was a narrow victory over Scooterwillrev.
“He has had a bad quarter crack that has taken a few months to get on top off, so he has had a few issues along the way,” explained Yole
The trainer-driver will discuss future plans of the pacer with his connections with a couple of short term options on the cards.
“I am a little undecided, there is a race in Launceston next week that I may look at, and there is the Launceston Mile the following week so I will see how he pulls up and discuss the options with his owners,” added the trainer after his weekend double.
Yole drove a double on the card scoring with Rambleon later in the night.
The Ladbrokes Sheffield Cup had it all, with a false start declared after Proficient reared and fell to the track as the tapes released at the first attempt.
Then, the race was resulted in the steward's room after a protest second vs first was upheld for interference over the concluding stages.
Perfect Mach driven by Tim Yole was first past the post, shifted out noticeably over the concluding stages when Gone And Forgotten (Rohan Hillier) was easing out into clear racing room, having the mares run impeded by the leader, with a half-metre between the duo.
It was the eleventh career win for Gone And Forgotten, six of those wins being in standing starts.
The mare is prepared by young Beauty Point trainer Conor Crook who made it a race to race double when Kuyomi registered her first win since arriving in Australia.
The win was the last leg of a driving treble for Rohan Hillier, who scored in the night's opening race on two-year-old filly Gueneveres Madonna, who made a winning start to her racing career when scoring in the $12,000 D.H.R.C Devonport Belmont.
Hillier was able to lead from the pole draw on the daughter of Allamerican Ingot, but the filly raced very greenly in the lead, her ability was enough to get her home in a slow mile rate of 2m 7.0s by 2.5 metres over Watch The Attitude with a big gap to the other two remaining runners.
“She seems a nice filly but has a lot to learn, but she got the job done, and that’s all that matters,” said Hillier after the win of the Wes Targett trained pacer.
The middle leg of Hillier’s treble was in the Lucas Hotel Latrobe Cup on the Ben Woodsford trained Metro Star.
From barrier two on the second-row, Hillier elected to make a mid-race move to find the spot outside the leader near the 1500 metre point where he was able to outstay his rivals in the rating 55 to 64 event.
“It is a good race for those mid-class horses to win that bit of extra money, he has been racing super of late, and I told Rohan (Hillier) to put him into the race and to drive him confident, and he did that,” said trainer Ben Woodsford after the race.
The other $12,000 feature race was the Tasracing Leigh Plunkett which the Paul Calson trained mare Better Amour was able to score a narrow win for driver John Walters over Island Bliss and Belle Of Brooklyn.
