17-year-old harness driver Brodie Davis declared himself a rising star with his win in the 2024 Ladbrokes Easter Cup, and two years on, he aims to repeat that feat with the same horse.
Davis will partner with Heath Woods-trained The Shallows, a modern-day marvel of Tasmanian harness racing, who has amassed more than $350,000 in career prize money across 124 starts.
Davis’s victory in 2024 remains the biggest of his career, though he has secured several black type wins since then.
“I’ve got many good memories of Easter Cup night. In terms of its status, the Easter Cup is still my biggest win, even though I’ve added the two Sires’ wins,” said Brodie, now 19 with 130 driving wins to his name.
The Shallows finished second in his heat on 22 March behind Easter Cup favourite, Horatius Speculo. On the outside of the 10m line for the $75,000 Group 3 final, bookmakers have The Shallows at $7, with Horatius Speculo at $2.30 off the inside of the front line.
“I was happy with his heat run. I think with the right run, he can easily win it. It’ll all come down to the start and what goes away. Drawn on the outside of the 10 is a bit of an awkward one; we’ll just need to get away and see where we lob,” Davis said.
Outside of the favourite, this year’s Easter Cup is considered an open affair with as many as five pacers vying for the second line of betting. Early pre-post favourite, Triedtotellya, has opted to run in Saturday night’s $14,000 Kevin Gillies Memorial, where he is off 30m, as opposed to the 40m he was given for the Easter Cup.
“Horatius Speculo has to be the hardest to beat, just off the barrier draw. If he leads them up and gets it cheap, he can sprint well, but probably other than that, they’re an even bunch.”
Davis has a strong hand in some of the support features on Saturday night’s bumper 10-race program, with key drives in the $20,000 Allen Williams Memorial (2200m) and $20,000 Sinbad Bay (2200m).
“Winning Brew has been racing well; he’s always taken a while to know what to do. He sort of just doesn’t know how to get through a corner yet, but once he figures it out, he’ll be a nice horse,” said Davis of his Allen Williams drive for the maiden pacers.
Davis has the sit on King Bart in the Sinbad Bay, labelling him his best winning chance of the night.
“He’s got plenty of gate speed, so he’ll just lob early, and as long as he doesn’t cop too much pressure, I think he’s got enough sprint to beat the better ones.”
Saturday night’s Launceston program will be hosted on the Tasracing Live stream by Adrian Collins, and every race except the opener is scheduled for Sky 1 coverage. The evening is scheduled to begin at 17:55.
