Three-year-old Rock N Roll Heaven gelding Rocky Rocks ($1.05 fav) continued his path towards next month’s Tasmanian Derby, with a dominant 28.1-metre victory in Launceston on Friday night.
The pacer is a part of a team that Victorian trainer Craig Turnbull has in Tasmania at present, with his daughter Abbey taking the drive.
Rocky Rocks had to work in the early stages to hold the lead from the pole draw in the national rating 58 to 63 event over 2200m, but after holding the lead, the pacer had the race run on his terms, and put the race beyond doubt near the 300m to score a dominant win in a mile rate of 1:57.6s. The last half mile was recorded in 56.4s, the quickest individual last half mile of the meeting.
“He probably races better with a sit,” said Abbey post-race.
“I feel very grateful to be able to sit behind him,” the driver added.
It was the fifth career win at start nine for Rocky Rocks, who had won his previous two starts at the Riverina Paceway in Wagga.
Earlier in the night, Bettors Delight colt Schwarz ($1.20 fav) took his record to two wins from seven starts, when the Emma Stewart-trained pacer won first up in the state by 6.9m.
After settling back in the field from a second-row draw, driver Mark Yole elected to move into the race after a slow first quarter of the final mile, to find the lead at the bell, and proved too strong late in a mile rate of 1:58.0s for the 2200m trip.
“The original plan was to use his speed, but when the tempo was very slow, I had to roll the dice and make a mid-race move. He has a good turn of foot, and he was strong to the line. I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to drive a horse of his class,” said Yole about the win.
Another pacer that had done their recent racing in Victoria to win at their Tasmanian debut was the Geoff Smith-trained Ifyoulovemeletmego ($6).
The seven-year-old daughter of Shadow Play, worked forward in the three-wide early in the race to find the spot outside the leader near the mile, and then took up the lead near the 1000m.
After being headed in the straight, the mare rallied back to record her fifth win of the season.
Brighton-based trainer Tammy Langley bookended the program with Noblezzz Advice ($8) and Rollwitharty ($4).
Both horses were driven by her son Dylan Ford, who also partnered the Bianca Heenan-trained Iylac Chamber ($6) to victory.
Jordan Chibnall was the only other driver to have recorded multiple wins on the card, winning with the Paul Carlson-trained Rock Amour ($8.00) and Moveslikealady ($2.60 fav) for trainer Rohan Hillier later in the night.
