A mouth-watering clash between Ride The Rails and Lillycette headlines Monday’s semi-finals of the Group 2 A-Total Car Rentals Launceston Cup (515m).
That pair, whose impressive winning times in last week’s Heats were separaTed by just 0.01, jump from boxes six and seven respectively in the third of three semi-finals of the $40,000-to-the-winner series.
Experienced chaser Ride The Rails’s victory in last week’s semi-finals was his 21st in 55 starts and maintained his current recent strong form.
He has not finished out of the placings in his last 10 starts and placed in both the recent Group 1 Hobart Thousand and Group 2 Warragul Cup.
Kelly Bravo’s sprinter has a mixed record from box six but won last week’s Heat in 29.64 and should be too quick for most of them here.
Ted Medhurst’s Lillycette was a shade quicker than her rival while winning her Heat in 29.63 and with 14 wins from 27 starts she is a class act.
Ride The Rails beat her into third place at The Meadows two starts back, though, and with the inside draw here should be the one to back.
Fastest Heat winner Secret Spell is an impressive performer but could face a battle to qualify for next Monday’s decider.
The daughter of Bartrim Bale x Wicked Witch will jump from box eight, from which she has a mixed record, in the first semi-final.
Rival Breaker’s Tip is certainly not as fast but having drawn the rail box, from which he has a super record, trainer Gary Fahey should like his charge’s chances.
Heat winner Dominator Girl jumps from box six in the second semi-final but the smart money here may be on Brad Hill Billy (box six).
Allan Clark’s chaser ran a smart 29.69 finishing second behind Secret Spell in the Heats and has been running consistently well over the last six weeks.
One roughie for the series could be Senor Slamma, who has drawn box one in the third semi-final and will battle Ride The Rails and Lillycette.
Gary Johnson’s chaser has only been out of the placings once in his last 20 starts and went achingly close to capturing the recent Group 3 Devonport Cup (452m) before being run down by Dark Vito in a thriller.
There is a question mark over his staying ability for this distance but he looks to have good ability.
For Launceston Monday fields and form, click here.
