It was a great night for the concession drivers in Launceston on Friday night, winning four of the eight races.
King Island-born reinsman Kayleb Williams was the first to get on the board, winning the Carlton Draught Stakes aboard the Todd Rattray-trained Jocund.
Sent out as a $6.50 chance, Williams held the lead in a solid first-half mile on the Major Bronski gelding, who was able to pull out all stops late to defeat the Ben Yole-trained The Black Assassin.
The win was the first for Williams since commencing employment with the Todd Rattray stable, and was his second win on mainland Tasmania after scoring on the Ben Yole-trained Live For Peace in late March.
Williams made it a double on the card in the final race of the night, the Faithful Park Stud Pace, with this year’s King Island Cup winner Karalta Kruise.
Quickly finding the lead from gate three in the 2200-metre event, the Mcardle gelding was able to get some soft early sections before dashing away late to score by 8.7 metres in 2m 2.7s, to give Williams his first driving double.
Bronte Miller was the other junior driver to register a double on the card, her second in the previous two meetings held at the venue.
She opened her winning account on Auckland Reactor gelding Aha Reaction, who was able to outsprint his rivals late to score in a slick 1m 57.9s while Heza Rummage scored a 5.7-metre win later in the night in a rating 45 or better standing start event.
Both of Miller’s double was prepared by trainer Ben Yole who ended up with a treble on the card with the Troy McDonald driven Got The Goods winning later in the night.
The Wesley Targett-trained Wandary Muscat continued the hobby trainers good run in recent weeks when the six-year-old mare finished off best to win the Tasmanian Horse Transport Pace, and the victory was the first leg of a driving double for reinsman Rohan Hillier who scored later in the night on the Conor Crook-trained Gone And Forgotten.
Another trainer to continue their good recent form was Tammy Langley, who prepared Bettors Delight mare Say A Prayer to victory in the Trainers Encouragement Pace, courtesy of a confident drive by Dylan Ford.
