Lightly raced six-year-old gelding James In Charge took his record to five wins from 13 starts when scoring in the Ladbrokes Mates Mode Hosted Pots Pace (1680m) in Launceston on Friday night.
The Dean Braun-trained pacer was dropping back from the heat and final of the Group 3 Tassie Golden Apple, back to a no more than six-lifetime win event.
Driver Rohan Hillier made the most of the pole draw with the $1.16 favourite leading in a lead time of 5.1s before running quarters of 29.7s, 30.6s, 29.0s and 26.6s and didn’t appear to be out of second gear to record a 4.4m win over Out Of Eden ($6.50) and Jilliby Mendoza ($12).
“He was dropping back from the apple to restricted win grade, and he looked hard to beat from the pole and would have been hard to beat wherever he drew,” said Braun post-race.
“We would never know now (where he would have finished in the Golden Apple after finding trouble on the last corner), but I think he would have been hard to beat if he had got clear running.
“He is a really fast horse, and following a helmet is really quick.
“There is the Danbury Park Cup for him next week in Launceston, and then whether the Devonport Cup is an option, I’m not too sure yet. Both he and Franco Promacho’s main targets were the Apple, and I haven’t looked too far beyond that,” said the trainer.
It was the first leg of a driving double for Rohan Hillier, who won the Ladbrokes Racing Club Pace (1680m) for the maidens with the Leigh Rand trainer Muzzame Mate ($2.50 fav) who was a tough winner racing outside the leader to score in 1:56.9s by 11.9m at the four-year-old gelded son of Betting Line’s second career start.
The other doubles recorded on the program were for the Wayne Yole and Mitch Ford combination, winning with Cinocal Jamane ($5.50) and Yareckon Im Sweet ($7.50).
