Class pacers Riverboat Jasper and Scooterwillrev will have to turn back the clock 44 years if they are to win the Doug Martin Danbury Park Cup at Mowbray on Friday night.
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They share the backmark of 30m in the $12,000 race and no horse has won off that handicap since Vespasian in 1974.
Foxport won off 25m twice in the early 1990s and Swishinon, Albert Jones, Fleet Express, Riverboat Jasper and Im Barney Rubble have won off 20m.
The Danbury Park Cup was first run in 1921 but went into recess after the 1978 race before being revived by the late Doug Martin in 1990.
It has been won by some of Tasmania’s greatest ever horses including Halwes and Golden Alley.
Riverboat Jasper will be in search of his second win on the back of an impressive first-up victory in the NWTLHA Cup at Devonport 12 days ago.
Scooterwillrev goes into the 2698m staying test second-up from a short break.
He was also off 30m when a close third to Full Speed Ahead and Another Swinger in the Launceston Show Cup four weeks ago.
It looks to be one of the best versions of the Danbury Cup in recent times.
Driver Gareth Rattray will be chasing his fourth win in the past seven years on last year’s winner Im Barney Rubble.
WESLEY RETURNS
Tasmania’s premier thoroughbred sprint, the $100,000 Newmarket Handicap at Mowbray next Wednesday, has attracted 12 entries.
They include four of the first five placegetters from last year’s race – I’m Wesley (1st), Lord Da Vinci (2nd), Geegees Doublejay (4th) and Gee Gee Double Dee (5th).
Weights are due to be declared by 4pm on Friday with acceptances closing at 9am on Monday.
MASKIELL TO CITY
Jason Maskiell’s successful comeback in Victoria moves to the city this weekend.
He will ride Netra’s Boy at Moonee Valley on Friday night and Oh So Rewarding in the Merson Cooper Stakes at Sandown on Saturday.
Prior to Pakenham last night, Maskiell had won on seven of his previous 21 rides on country tracks.
NUNIVAK RETIRES
Former promising sprinter Nunivak has been retired.
The gelding won three of his first six starts and ran fourth at Sandown as a three-year-old but his 12 starts have been well spaced.
Jockey Siggy Carr reported that Nunivak felt “awkward in his action” during a below-par run at Mowbray on Wednesday night.
Vets could find no abnormalities but trainer Scott Brunton informed stewards that the six-year-old had run his last race.
