Highly promising pacer Lip Reader will take another step towards some of Tasmania's biggest races when he contests the Discretionary Handicap in Devonport on Friday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Next month's $30,000 Golden Apple at Mowbray and the $30,000 Devonport Cup in January are both on the radar for the five-year-old if he continues his good form.
Beauty Point trainer Rohan Hillier said Lip Reader was well up to running in both races.
"As it stands, he'll get 10m in the Golden Apple but that's not the worst thing in the world because he's not fast away anyway," Hillier said.
You could say he was weak ... but he's definitely got stronger.
- Trainer Rohan Hillier on Lip Reader
"But he's a definite chance for sure."
Hillier said the only reason he was taking Lip Reader to this weekend's secondary meeting, where the races carry lower prizemoney, was to space his starts.
"I didn't want to go to Hobart next week because that would have meant him racing three weeks in a row," the trainer said.
The heats and final of the Golden Apple are on the following two weekends.
Lip Reader has won nine races since joining Hillier from the James Rattray stable in Sydney and the trainer admits he's been a real surprise packet.
"In New South Wales he was a really fast beginner from the mobile but he was often found wanting over the last 200m," Hillier said.
"You could say he was weak.
"But he's definitely got stronger."
Hillier said Lip Reader's owner Marc Panton, a former Tasmanian businessman, had no high hopes when he sent the horse to his old home state.
"Marc's aim was to try to win a couple with him at Devonport - that's all he was expecting," Hillier said.
ANOTHER HILLIER TO FORE AT CARRICK
Harness racing returns to Carrick for the first time since the shutdown on Sunday when another Golden Apple hopeful will be in action.
Rohan Hillier's brother Troy has former Kiwi five-year-old Racketeers Boy engaged in a very strong rating 60 to 70 race.
Hillier laid his cards on the table after Racketeers Boy made a winning Tasmanian debut in a lowly 57-63 rater in Hobart on October 25.
He said the gelding was working so well he was considering going straight to the open-class Danbury Park Cup for his next start.
The trainer changed his mind and went to a 60-64 race in Launceston where Racketeers Boy won again before following up with a solid third from a bad draw at Devonport.
"I probably got a bit excited after the Hobart race," Hillier said.
"But he went really well and the only reason I didn't go to the Danbury Park Cup was because, if he actually won it, he'd probably get 10m in the Golden Apple and he doesn't deserve that."
Hillier will get a good idea on Sunday as to whether Racketeers Boy is worth a tilt at the Golden Apple as he meets some handy opposition.
A couple of his rivals are well-graded with novice driver claims and there's hardly a horse in the race that doesn't have some chance.
WHITE CLIFFS DUE TO BREAK THROUGH
Promising four-year-old White Cliffs looks ready to break through for his first win of the season at Elwick on Sunday.
The Angela Brakey-trained gelding will have the benefit of Brandon Louis' 1.5kg claim in the Benchmark 66 Handicap and should be peaking at his fourth run since a spell.
A winner of three races in a row earlier in the year before an unsuccessful trip to Melbourne, White Cliffs was just edged out by Tough Boy over 1400m at Mowbray last Saturday.
He had every chance in that race but the winner proved too strong.
He steps up to 1600m this week which should suit, given that he's by Canford Cliffs, a group 1 winner over 1600m at Ascot and The Curragh, and his dam White Yard was runner-up in a Launceston Cup.