Conor Crook made the most of Wednesday afternoon’s Hobart card, with his two runners engaged at the meeting both winning.
Mary Mourne ($1.40 fav) took her record to two wins from two starts in the state when claiming the TTC On Facebook Pace (2090m).
The seven-year-old daughter of Panspacificflight, who was driven by Jordan Chibnall, flew out to lead, and travelled keenly in the middle stages before proving too good for her rivals in the home straight, scoring by 6.1m over Resurgent Warrior ($12) and Family Reasons ($20) in a mile rate of 1:58.0s.
“I like her. She is pretty strong, and she didn’t win by much today, but I think if something else had been coming, she would have had a bit left.
“I think she has a few wins in her, and when she’s in a winnable race, she is a horse you can put into the race as she has a bit of bottom to her,” said Crook.
Earlier in the program, Crook prepared Whiskey Cavalier ($2.60 fav) to victory in the Typeface Pace.
Driven by five-point claiming novice driver, Grace Jones, Whiskey Cavalier showed brilliant gate speed to lead and he dashed away over the final 400m to score by 5.2m over Eagle Watch ($11) in 1:55.9s.
The pacer jumped a shadow of a light tower at the finish of the race, which luckily didn’t interfere with any other runners as they crossed the line.
The pacer has won five metropolitan races in Victoria and New South Wales prior to arriving in the state, with a previous best winning mile rate of 1:53.8s.
“That was the easiest race he has contested for a while.
“I had been confident with him going into his first two runs, and he didn’t find too much, so I put that down to the longer trips and back in grade suited him well,” said the trainer.
Conor’s partner, Jordan Chibnall, took both pacers to the meeting, with Conor electing to stay at home and work with the remainder of his team.
That team includes Glenledi Elvis and Magnetic Terror, who will start off a 20m handicap in the first heat of the Easter Cup in Launceston on Sunday night.
“They both look well placed, and fingers crossed, they qualify.”
Maebee, also from Conor’s stable, will contest heat two off a 10m handicap in the second heat, where the state’s star pacer Triedtotellya will start off the 40m back mark.
The top six placegetters from each heat will be first into the Group 3 Final on 4 April.
