The rescheduled Brighton Cup will headline Sunday night’s eight-race harness program in Hobart.
The 2090m feature was originally scheduled for early January. It was called off in the early stages after Jordan Chibnall was dislodged from Magnetic Terror and attended to by ambulance officers.
Stewards declared a no-race, with Chibnall returning to race driving several weeks later.
The Brighton Cup has a long history, having first been staged in 1898, with the last cup held at Brighton in 1975 before being reintroduced by the Tasmanian Trotting Club several seasons ago.
Four runners from the abandoned January race will line up in Sunday night’s rescheduled cup, including last year’s Brighton Cup winner The Shallows.
The Heath Woods-trained pacer will be driven by Brodie Davis and has drawn the front row in a mobile start race for the first time since his Tasmania Cup heat win in February.
Woods will also drive stablemate Custom Harley, whose most recent victory came two starts ago in Hobart when rating 1:57.6s over 2090m.
Progressive mare Shes Allaboutluv will be looking for her first win in open-class company. The four-year-old daughter of Always B Miki is unbeaten in five starts on the Hobart track.
This calendar year alone, she has won seven of her nine starts, with claiming novice driver Ethan Arnott continuing his association with the mare. The only time she has missed a top-two finish in Tasmania was when finishing a creditable fourth in the Launceston Mile behind Triedtotellya.
Another Nien has drawn barrier two for the father-son combination of Adrian and Jacob Duggan.
The pacer has recorded one win and six placings from 11 starts this season and hasn’t been far away at this level in recent outings.
“He has put a couple of nice runs together. We think he is better when leading, but these last few we have been able to sit him up, and he’s hit the line.
“Although we have been driving him a bit differently, he has also run into some nice horses,” said Jacob.
The interesting runner of the race is Waves Of Chance for the Juanita McKenzie and Jack Watson combination.
The five-year-old gelding has won eight of his 27 starts, and he contested the $100,000 Riverina Championships Final in Wagga in early April, finishing 13m from the winner.
Waves Of Chance has had two trials in the state, including a win at Hobart on 8 June, where he led throughout to score by just over 3m at a mile rate of 1:59.3s.
Pardoe Plugga was also in the original Brighton Cup field and goes into Sunday’s race second-up after finishing fifth in the Ulverstone Cup in Launceston last start.
He was badly held up on the pegs on that occasion and appeared to have something to offer late.
The Leigh Rand-trained pacer hasn’t won since May last year, but in his last preparation, he ran several solid races, including a fourth placing in the Devonport Cup, beaten only 2m, and a third in the Carrick Cup when beaten half a metre after starting from a 20m handicap.
The first of eight races is scheduled for 16:52.
