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It’s rare that a horse trained in the north of the state has a superior record in Hobart to Launceston or Devonport but that’s currently the case for four-year-old mare Stefanidi.
The daughter of Wordsmith – Catendra has had three starts on the Hobart track for two wins and a second, her other five career starts have all been in Launceston and have only returned one second placing.
Trained by Ian Hay at Longford, Stefanidi resumes from a spell of 104 days, last seen winning a Class 1 in Hobart in late October where she was a 1.5-length winner over Kohima who would then go on to win his next start.
Contesting the Monotone Class 3 Hcp (1100m) which is the final race on Sunday's seven-race program, Stefanidi will have the services of leading rider David Pires who has had one ride aboard the mare which was her most recent victory.
The main dangers to Stefanidi resuming with a win on Sunday appear to be two horses that contested the $50,000 3YO Classic on Launceston Cup day, Warrior Prince and Thunberg.
The Glenn Stevenson-trained War Correspondent was a dominant winner of the 3YO Classic, establishing himself as the premier sprinter of his age group, and he held a 2.5-length margin to Warrior Prince in that race with Thunberg a further 2.25 lengths away in fourth.
The consistent Warrior Prince shapes as the likely favourite for Sunday's race, the Adam Trinder-trained gelding will be having his first start at Ladbrokes Park Elwick on Sunday but has jumped the shortest priced runner with bookmakers in five of his seven career starts.
3YO filly Thunberg resumed from a break with a narrow second behind War Correspondent in Hobart on 5 February, a race that was run in the driving rain.
Interestingly, both of Thunberg's career victories have come with David Pires in the saddle but connections have opted to use the 3kg claim of Codi Jordan on Sunday.
The weather forecast is for some showers in the Hobart area across the weekend, but the redeveloped Elwick track has already shown its superb drainage qualities and punters can expect to be working with a Good 4 or Soft 5 rated track.
The first race on Sunday is scheduled for 13:30 with the meeting live hosted on TasracingTV by Jacob Bevis.
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