Nyack
TASMANIAN will have three horses to cheer for in next month’s rich Brisbane Inter Dominion series.
While the brilliant pacer Triedtotellya will be the only Tassie-trained raider, the proudly Tasmanian-born Jimmy Rattray is taking Nyack and London To A Brick to chase the $1 million pacing final and $500,000 trotting final respectively.
“I like flying the Tassie flag, too,” the Menangle-based Rattray said. “The Inter Dominion is such a big thing and for Tassie to have some horses to follow in it is a great thing for the game down there.
“Nyack is Tassie through-and-through, he started his career down there and showed enough to think he could measure up in the best (mainland) races with some grounding over time.
“He’s always had fantastic high speed and now he’s getting the strength to go with it.
“He’s really needed the past 12 to 18 months of conditioning in the big races, including last year’s (Brisbane) Inter Dominion, to take the next step.
“We’re seeing the benefits, his past few runs have been the best of his career.
“He’s got a few sub-1min50sec miles under his belt now at Menangle and that’s a great sign he’s toughened up.”
Nyack went within a whisker of upsetting the 2024 Inter Dominion winner Don Hugo, who also boasts wins in a Miracle Mile and TAB Eureka, at Menangle last Saturday night in a slick 1min49.2sec mile.
“That’s a good benchmark, isn’t it,” Rattray said. “Don Hugo’s up with the best of him and I felt we went as good as him and almost beat him. We got so close.”
Rattray’s first goal is to qualify for the Inter Dominion final after bad luck left him first emergency last year.
“We got knocked down in a heat and that cost him,” he said. “Still, the trip was a great experience and he’s a more complete horse now.
“I’d love to make the final and then we can hope for a draw and the right luck to try and make our presence felt in the final.”
Rattray is looking forward to taking on Triedtotellya, who he has watched closely in Tasmania.
“He’s a lovely horse and has done some fantastic things back home,” he said. “Ass we’ve found with Nyack, it’s a big step up to these top (mainland) races, but he’s certainly got the ability.”
Rattray knows what it takes having famously guided the great Beautide from Tasmania to win successive Menangle Inter Dominion finals in 2014 and ’15.
Many believe Triedtotellya is the best horse Tasmania has produced since Beautide, but Nyack is certainly right in that discussion, too.
Rattray is more hopeful than confident that his gifted, but injury-plagued Group 1-winning trotter London To A Brick can make a big impact in Brisbane.
“We went last year, but he had some problems and It felt like we were on the backfoot from the start,” he said.
“He’s had a better build-up this time and seems well, but his races this time have been OK without being great,” he said.
“Hopefully he’ll keep getting fitter and thrive through the racing up there.”
PHOTO: Club Menangle
