Rackemup Tigerpie booked his spot in Saturday night’s Group 1 Tasmania Cup final after cruising to a comfortable win in his heat in Hobart on Sunday night.
The race did not go entirely to plan but trainer-driver Michael Stanley kept his cool to get the job done and can now look ahead to the final.
Early trouble
Stanley and Rackemup Tigerpie had to negotiate some trouble in the early part of the race but the horseman was delighted with the way his charge handled the situation.
"The pleasing thing for me is my bloke stepped away and had to dodge through a bit of that traffic, and it didn’t phase him," Stanley told reporters after the win.
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"When Merserati found the front, with all due respect to him, he is a step behind my bloke and a few of the backmarkers that came over.
"I was happy to sit outside the leader and dictate once I knew Holy Basil and Western Sonador had missed away."
Eyes on the prize
Rackemup Tigerpie takes his record to 15 wins from 68 starts and Stanley is now hoping they can add the Group 1 feature to his CV this weekend.
The Tasmania Cup has been on the radar for a while and now they have the chance to bring it home.
"We have had it in the back of our mind for quite a while because he qualified from a stand two or three years ago, so once the prize money had changed, it was on the radar," Stanley added.
