By Brigette Solomon
Junior driver Crystal Hackett has three drives tonight at Cambridge for Palmerston North trainer Stephen Doody including promising three year old Doo You Want Me who starts in the $35,000 TAB Provincial Pacers Final Mobile Pace.
“He’s a nice horse and I’m just lucky to be able to drive him” says Hackett “It’s not often as a junior driver that we get to stick with nice horses as they progress, so I’m stoked to be driving him.”
The Captain Crunch gelding has won his past four races on end, beating a similar field here last start with a dominant victory. In that race Doo You Want Me started from barrier nine and settled three back on the fence behind race leader Wicked Wanda who led and Blazing Louie in the trail. Driver Crystal Hackett bided her time electing to await the passing lane and when it came Doo You Want Me was full of running, dashing up the lane for a brilliant win by 0.75 lengths ahead of Two Eye See and Joes Rock.
Tonight, he faces a tougher challenge with having to overcome a tricky barrier draw of eleven.
“He’s still a chance but it’s a tough draw and he’s just newly turned three and not yet hardened to racing in the tougher grades” says Hackett “It will really depend on what the horses in the front row do as to how he’s driven tonight, he’s got plenty of speed so it isn’t a worry if he ends up getting back in the field, but we’ll just see what happens.”
Hackett also drives Blue Chip Lou in the Garrards Horse And Hound Mobile Pace. The four year old Sweet Lou mare was unplaced last week after being freshened and Hackett thinks the mare isn’t without a chance in tonight’s five horse field.
“Given the right run she could feature tonight, but being a five horse field it will be a bit of a tactical race so it will really depend on the way the race is run” says Hackett.
The feature trot of the night is the TAB Provincial Trotters Final Handicap Trot over 2200 and features a field of horses racing in solid form including Romeo Foxtrot, Patrick Mahomes and Dragonstone. Also in the field is the Derek Balle trained Dreams Pat who isn’t yet a model of consistency but has plenty of talent and starts the event off a 20 metre handicap.
Race one at Cambridge Raceway kicks off at 5:48pm.