Izaha win changes things
HARNESS trainer Todd Rattray has been forced to rethink plans for his classy pacer Izaha after the gelding scored an impressive win in the $12,000 Doug Martin Danbury Park Cup in Launceston on Sunday night.
Izaha started off the equal back mark of 20 metres but the gelding’s victory could mean he will be facing tougher marks in upcoming events that were planned for the son of Roll with Joe.
Rattray had Izaha ($2.60 equal fav) on the back of fellow back marker Illegal Immigrant from the outset and when he peeled out wide to make his charge in the home straight the last time the fiveyear-old powered home to score convincingly.
Izaha hit the line almost two metres clear of race leader Koolaz Elvis ($11) with Karalta Dazzler ($51) emerging fort third ahead of Illegal Immigrant ($2.60 equal fav).
“Coming off 20 metres in that race has made it very hard for me to place him here in Tassie for the rest of the season.
“If he doesn’t get the cushy run that he got on the back of Illegal Immigrant he probably doesn’t win.
“I haven’t planned to take him interstate, so we’ll just have to see what races he can get into without being too harshly treated (handicaps).”
The Hobart Pacing Cup is one of the long-range targets for Izaha, but in the meantime Rattray will endeavour to find suitable mobile events for the lightly raced gelding, which has won 14 of his 24 starts for $133,000 in stakes.
Izaha was the second leg of a feature race double for the stable, with Rattray’s talented mare Bremusa ($3.60) winning the $12,000 Shirley Martin Mother of Pearl.
Bremusa began brilliantly from a wide gate (7) to find the lead.
Once in front Rattray rated the five-year-old superbly and she went on to score by almost two metres from Volkova Leis ($1.90 fav) with outsider Ready to Fire ($21) over two metres away third.
“This mare has always shown good early speed, but she was brilliant this time and once we landed in front, I knew she would be very hard to run down. I don’t think she’s ever been beaten when she has led.”
Bremusa is likely to be aimed at the George Johnson in Hobart in March after which she is likely to be raced sparingly until owner-breeders Lyndon and Simon Dakin retire her as a broodmare.
STAR Tasmanian-bred and owned pacer Ignatius will resume from a lengthy spell in the $30,000 Group 3 Tony Turnbull Free-For-All at Menangle in Sydney on Saturday night.
Ignatius hasn’t started since winning the Group 1 NSW Breeders Challenge 4YO final at Menangle in June to become the first to win all three age finals (two, three and four) of that series.
The James Rattraytrained gelding has won 18 of 27 starts for just over $400,000 in stakes.