‘Tonk’ v ‘Tommy’ in Hobart Thousand

[Wandering Eyes]

Young Mount Wallace trainer Correy Grenfell, 26, is hoping champion sprinter Tiggerlong Tonk continues his snowballing run of success in the $75,000 to-the-winner Group 1 Hobart Thousand (461m) on Thursday night.

Grenfell won last month’s G3 Shootout (515m) at Sandown with Tiggerlong Tonk in a new race record (29.03sec) prior to him finishing fourth to Hard Style Rico in the G1 Melbourne Cup (515m), also at Sandown.

And last Saturday night, he snared a $47,000 first prize courtesy of Yozo Bale in the G2 Ballarat Cup (450m).

Dubbed the “ultimate professional”, Tiggerlong Tonk finished fifth to retired champion Hooked On Scotch in last year’s Hobart Thousand final.

And now he faces WA wonder Tommy Shelby, who clocked a near track record 25.45sec in last week’s heats. Tiggerlong Tonk was around five lengths slower in 25.76sec.

Tommy Shelby (Box 8) is $1.80F on TAB’s fixed odds market, with Tiggerlong Tonk (Box 5) the second elect at $2.80.

WATCH: Tiggerlong Tonk (8) flies the Victorian flag in a G1 Hobart Thousand heat last week.

However, Grenfell has confidence in his charge upsetting the sensational Sandgroper.

“To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with his heat win,” Grenfell said. “He never looked comfortable and his head was ‘up in the air’ all the way around.”

But Grenfell added he was “expecting a different scenario” from Tiggerlong Tonk in the final.

“He’ll be more settled as he remained in Tassie following the heats. Normally, on times, there’s not much between him and Tommy Shelby. But I think whoever leads will probably win.”

A seven-time G1 finalist, Tiggerlong Tonk (Feb ’18 Dyna Double One x Tiggerlong Dot) has won 33 races from 62 starts – including seven of his past 11. He also won the G2 Horsham Cup (485m).

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