Harness
Australian Harness Racing Preview - Saturday, December 20
A newcomer to the Jason Grimson yard from New Zealand looks a threat to last week’s Blacks A Fake winner Don Hugo when he returns to Menangle on Saturday night.
Luke Mccarthy's top-class stallion drops back to the mile for the Ultra Air Cup and comes up against accomplished Kiwi Rakero Rocket in what looks an interesting clash.
Don Hugo enjoyed a trail behind the leader then timed his run along the sprint lane to perfection to down Leap To Fame for another Group 1 win in an epic clash in last week's Blacks A Fake in Brisbane.
He loves Menangle where his successes include an Inter Dominion final and a Eureka and his strike rate at the 1609m distance is strong, highlighted by a Miracle Mile victory earlier this year and he has the speed to offset the wide barrier.
Rakero Rocket presents as a new challenger, having his first outing for Grimson since crossing the Tasman.
The gelding hasn't raced since last month's New Zealand Cup but showed his ability with a win in the G3 Methven Cup earlier in the campaign and he is proven at this distance.
Ubetcha Tigerpie is the only other one featuring in early betting and while he cops a wide draw he did well to get within 2m of the flying Captains Knock at Listed level at the circuit and distance last week.
Ollivici impressed when cruising home by more than 15m at the circuit and distance two back then came from the same 30m handicap he has on Saturday when delivering again last time. Winning form is hard to knock and he'll be well fancied to deliver the hat trick.
Im Bobby came from the same mark for an encouraging second to Ollivici when resuming, getting within 1.4m of him. He should be fitter for that hitout so improvement is likely and he had put a string of wins together last time in so is a chance to turn the tables.
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