Punters Off The Mark In Hobart
Punters were off the mark at Tattersalls Park on Thursday night when, firstly the well related bitch Li Li (Head Bound – It's A She) took out the Shanlyn Prince At Stud Laurels Final (461 metres) paying a dividend of $14.80 and then Shanlyn Poh (Big Daddy Cool – Shanlyn Lass) was successful in the M A Morgan St Leger Final (461 metres) paying $10.
With both races being worth $5,000 to the winner in addition to a $2,500 breeders bonus, connections of both chasers would no doubt have enjoyed a wonderful evening.
Raced by Leith's Robyn Johnson and prepared for her by husband Gary, Li Li has now won eight of 28 lifetime outings and stakes of in excess of $15,000, but will be retired shortly to the breeding barn.
“It has always been our intention to breed from Li Li and that time is not too far away,” Gary Johnson explained after the race.
“No doubt Robyn has selected a stud dog for her – she is very strong and should throw a nice litter.”
The bitch chased hard at the conclusion of the Laurels, running down Carolina (Paddy's Flame – Cash Box) in the shadows of the post to score a great victory in the time of 26.23.
The lightly raced runner-up, which is proving to be a promising chaser as well, is raced by Kindred farmer Murray Mace and prepared for him by Beaconsfield trainer Julie Bannon.
The Mick Stringer prepared Gracie (Where's Pedro – Smart And Sassy) ran a nice race to fill third placing and should be seen in the winners circle once again in the very near future.
Moonah trainer Graeme Moate, who applies the polish to Shanlyn Poh, is no stranger to big race success, having previously won the St Leger with Caltex Lad when it was conducted at the Royal Showgrounds circuit.
The chaser is raced by the Melbourne based Hound Dog Syndicate headed by Lyn Larson and her son Shannon and has now won 12 of 28 outings and stakes of almost $24,000.
Moate has enjoyed great success with chasers raced by the syndicate, with seven of his current team of eight, raced in their interests.
“Shanlyn Poh is very lightly raced for a chaser only two and a half years old and I believe that he has a future,” he explained after the race.
“The Devonport Cup next year is a long range target that I have in mind for him, but we will just have to wait and see,” he added.
The trainer will now wait and see how Shanlyn Poh recovers from his latest outing and all being well, may enter him for a 599 metre race at next weeks HGRC meeting.
In winning the St Leger by a head in the time of 26.45, Shanlyn Poh accounted for the Ted Medhurst prepared Speed Direct ( Paddy's Flame – Inbetween Days), with the Gary Johnson prepared Justin's Dream (Paddy's Flame – Cash Box) filling third berth a further three lengths away.
Meanwhile Glenorchy trainer Ted Devine produced the smart chaser Place Your Bet (Big Daddy Cool – Billibev's Best) cherry ripe for his engagement in the Wrest Point Tower Grade 4 (461 metres) conducted on Thursday night's programme.
The chaser did not let his connections down as a heavily supported $1.60 commodity, making it two wins in succession by six lengths while recording the time of 26.12.