Triedtotellya will be chasing more feature race success when he lines up in the Doug Martin Danbury Park Cup (2698m) in Launceston on Sunday night.
He will start from a 30m handicap, alongside Star Major in Sunday’s race.
Since Vespasian won the race in 1974, only one horse has won the race off 30m (or the equivalent), Ryley Major in 2022.
This season, the Rohan Hillier-trained and driven pacer has won several of the Launceston Pacing Club’s premier races, including the $75,000 Easter Cup, his most recent win in the $50,000 Tassie Golden Apple, plus the $20,000 Launceston Mile in May.
Other horses to win the race off bigger handicaps include Foxport who won the race off 25m twice in the early 90s, while Swishinon, Albert Jones, Fleet Express, Riverboat Jasper, Im Barney Rubble, Izaha and Ignatius have won the race off 20m.
The Danubry Park Cup, a time-honoured race on the Tasmanian harness racing calendar, was first run in 1921.
The race went into recess after the 1978 running, following the amalgamation of the Danbury Park Trotting Club and the Northern Tasmanian Trotting Club to form the Launceston Pacing Club.
The cup was revived in 1990 by Doug Martin, who had won two Danbury Park Cups himself with Sampan.
He felt strongly about preserving the race’s history and, for many years, provided trophies for all races on the program at his own expense, with the Launceston Pacing Club continuing that tradition on Sunday by presenting trophies for the winning owner, trainer, driver and strapper.
Martin was the inaugural winner of Tasmanian harness racing’s highest honour, the Edgar Tatlow Medal, in 2001. He was also an inaugural member of the Tasmanian Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2014. Nationally, he received a Distinguished National Service Award from Harness Racing Australia in 1998.
He developed his love for harness racing in Western Australia and was a strapper for Logan Derby, the first Inter Dominion winner, in 1936. Martin later moved to Tasmania.
He worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the betterment of the sport, playing a significant role in helping the state secure the TAB in the late 60s and early 70s.
The Launceston Pacing Club renamed the race the Doug Martin Danbury Park Cup in his honour after his passing in 2008. His wife, Shirley, is also remembered with the Shirley Martin Mother Of Pearl, the club’s only mares Free For All race for the season.
Conor Crook and Jordan Chibnall will be chasing back-to-back wins in the Mother Of Pearl with Ultimaction, while Fun To Love, Zara Tindall, Sabine and Stepping Stones have all recorded wins in their past three starts.
Past winners
Danbury Park Cup
2024 Cool Water Paddy (10m) – R. Ashwood
2023 Mickey Oh (10m) – M. Howlett
2022 Ryley Major (30m) – R. Hillier
2021 Gotta Good Reason (Ft) – C. Crook
2020 Ignatius (20m) – T. Rattray
2019 Izaha (20m) – T. Rattray
Mother Of Pearl
2024 Out Of Eden – J. Chibnall
2023 All By Myself – R. Hillier
2022 Iden Miss Lucy – M. Yole
2021 Lavaughn – C. Crook
2020 Feel The Burn – T. Rattray
2019 Bremusa – T. Rattray
