A horse purchased from an online advertisement in 2017 as an unbroken two-year-old by a trainer who had been out of the industry for 11 years with family commitments has claimed another Tasmanian feature race.
The Shallows ($14), a now nine-year-old gelded son of Shadyshark Hanover, claimed the Listed Ladbrokes Hobart Pacing Cup (2579m) on Sunday afternoon. This win, along with previous wins in the Tasmania Cup (Group 2), Easter Cup (Group 3), and Tassie Golden Apple (Group 3), is just one of the pacer’s 26 career wins in his 105 starts, which have seen him earn over $300,000 in stake earnings.
The Heath Woods-trained pacer was driven by rising star Brodie Davis (better known as Hollywood), who took the pacer back towards the tail from a wide front-row draw.
Davis jumped on the three-wide line at the 1100m but was still in the back half of the field before being produced five-wide at the 400m, where he finished off best to defeat Blitzern ($26), who came from last at the 500m, by 4.3m, with the winner’s stablemate, Stepping Stones ($31) a neck away third in a mile rate of 1:59.6s.
“He had won his last couple, and this was his bigger test. Things worked out well for him again,” said Woods.
“I think this time in he is probably showing a bit more spark than he did the last year or two. But we have made a few tweaks with his training to change things up a bit. He had been sort of doing the same work for the last few years, and he has now got that spark back.
“When he was going through his classes, his sprint was his biggest asset, but then he got to open company, and obviously they run along, and they can all run a good half, which makes it harder.
Woods was full of praise for last season’s leading junior driver, Brodie Davis, who has built a good association with the pacer.
“Brodie has just clicked with him. The first time he drove him for me, I told him not to do much early, and he ran eighth. I asked him after the race how he went, and he said he went good, he got shunted around, and then the next time he drove him was when he won the Easter Cup with him.
“I don’t tell him what to do on him. He knows what to do on him and he can get the best out of him,” Woods said.
The horse was the first Heath and his son Aaron purchased when Heath returned to the industry.
“We have been lucky to have him, and are grateful for what he has done for us, and have been fortunate that he has always been sound.
“It was just a shot in the dark when we brought him, we just wanted to get a horse.
“He was just online, and we brought him sight unseen. He hadn’t had much done with him as he got infected when he was gelded and missed going to the breakers, and then they had another lot go through, and he was a two-year-old, and they had too many horses and decided to sell him,” Heath explained.
Heath indicated the pacer will head to races such as the Devonport Cup and the Tasmania Cup series.
The other feature race was the New Norfolk Cup (2000m), which was won by Hammer Dan ($6.50), who led for the final 1600m, for Dylan Ford and Tammy Langley, who added another cup to the mantle piece after winning Friday’s North Eastern Pacing Cup with Alby Two Chains.
The win was Langley’s 200th career winner.
