Not to plan but hot favourite too good in Devonport feature race

The four-year-old was expected to lead after drawing the pole in the $50,000 Granny Smith final but was crossed at the start by Better Amour from barrier three.

However driver Natalee Emery didn't take long to rectify the situation, immediately moving to the death before taking up the running a short distance later.

Blame It On Me was never troubled from then on, cruising home by almost 7m from Better Amour ($11) with Iden Gorgeous ($8.50) 3m away third.

Emery, who has driven Blame It On Me in all her 22 starts for 12 wins, is the first female driver to take out a Granny Smith final.

It was the fifth group 2 win for Bagdad owner-trainer Doug Nettlefold who races the mare with his wife Angela.

"Doug has done a fantastic job - we only have a couple of horses (at a time) and he only trains our own," Angela said.

Blame It On Me also won the two-year-old Sires Stakes final (the Evicus Stakes) before losing the race due a positive arsenic swab after chewing treated pine fencing.

She made amends by winning the three-year-old series, the Bandbox Stakes, last November.

In between those races, she was sidelined for nine months by a fractured pastern bone and still has three screws in her hind leg.

Favourite Watchmylips justified a confident plunge when he outclassed his rivals in the $50,000 Raider Stakes final.

Although he won his heat by 33m, the Rodney Ashwood-trained gelding faced a more difficult task from a second-row draw but it proved no obstacle.

Driver Ricky Duggan settled Watchmylips one-out, three-back before starting a three-wide run at the 1000m.

Duggan still had him under a tight hold as he moved to the lead going into the back straight and the race was as good as over.

Kosimo ($7.00), who trailed the winner into the race, finished off gamely for second with the pacemaker Kivik ($9.50) holding on for third.

Watchmylips was backed from $1.75 to close at $1.33 in the TAB's fixed-odds market.

The win was Duggan's 30th in a Sires Stake final.

Watchmylips has now won 10 of his 18 starts.

He didn't contest the Sires Stake series as a two-year-old and missed the three-year-old Globe Derby Stakes final in unfortunate circumstances.

He suffered a medical issue after finishing third in his heat and was ineligible for the final after being stood down for 14 days.

Sheffield trainer Rowan Hamer has enjoyed a successful winter season on the Spreyton track and wrapped it up in the best possible way with a double at Sunday's final meeting.

Banca Nip made it two wins from his past three starts in the Benchmark 74 Handicap then widely-travelled veteran Raghu broke through for his first Tasmanian win in the Benchmark 66 Handicap.

They were ridden by Ismail Toker and Erica Byrne Burke respectively - two of the 'form' jockeys so far this season - who both finished the meeting with doubles.

"Both horses were helped by perfect rides," Hamer said.

"Ismail got a dream run behind them on Banca Nip and Erica was allowed to dictate a snail's pace in front on Raghu."

Raghu had his first start for Hamer almost 12 months ago to the day, after previously racing in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Victoria.

Although his 16 previous Tasmanian starts had not netted a win, he has seldom run a bad race.

"He missed the start in a race on Launceston Cup day but, apart from that, he has hardly missed a stake cheque," Hamer said.

"It's taken him a while (to break through) but his rating has dropped a fair bit since I got him which is making it a bit easier."

Hamer said a change of training routine had also helped the nine-year-old.

"He's a fat horse and I probably worked him a bit too hard last time in trying to get him out to a trip," the trainer said.

"He had a lot of runs and by the time he went out he'd well and truly had enough.

"This time in, I've just given him a lot of slow work to try to get the weight off him - he hasn't done a lot of galloping."

Although the synthetic season is over, Hamer will keep Raghu 'ticking over' with a few runs at Mowbray until he can return to Spreyton in December-January.

Banca Nip was having his fourth run after a spell and was on a quick back-up after a close second to Rising Light the previous week.

"I was a bit worried about him going up to 1880m," Hamer said.

"The second horse (Dixie's Boy) also had a nice pull in the weights but he got a lovely soft run."

Hamer has also won races over the winter carnival with We Need A Star, Date Night, Holy Diamond and Barjeel.

Apart from Hamer, Toker and Byrne Burke, the only other multiple winner at the final meeting was Brendon McCoull.

He put on a couple of riding clinics to score on Lucky Bucky for Tanya Hanson and Weldborough for Leanne Gaffney.

Longford-based Hanson was the only winning trainer not from the North West Coast.

The next thoroughbred meeting in Tasmania is not until Wednesday week when the night racing season kicks off at Mowbray.