Duggan's triple delight

Young driver Jacob Duggan took driving honours at Sunday night’s race meeting in Hobart when the 18-year-old landed his first driving treble.

His first win came the way of $1.50 favourite Free To Play, who led throughout in the Prydes Easifeed Pace (2090m).

The Emma Stewart-trained daughter of American Ideal was challenged by Iden Lady Lincoln ($15) in the home straight before kicking back to record a 1.7m win, with Jorge Street ($2.50) a further 10m away third.

“I was really grateful for the drive there.

“She went good, they ran 1:57.5s, and she just kept grinding and fighting to the task and didn’t want to give up,” said Duggan.

Video watchers had no hesitation in jumping aboard Duggan’s second winner, Settebello, who was backed in from $4.80 into $2.80 on the Tasracing Official Price in the Ladbrokes Own Spring Pace (2090m).

The American Ideal gelding was taken straight to the lead, and although he appeared to race keenly in the middle stages, Duggan was able to run his last three quarters in 29.0s, 29.3s and 29.1s on the Wayne Yole-trained pacer.

“He had shown good gate speed in previous runs and did again on Sunday. He got to the top and got it his own way and was too good.

“Early on, he was out on his own and was relaxed, and once Yareckon Im Sweet got outside, he knew it was game time,” the driver said.

Duggan’s last winner was with Hurricane Rock, who paid well at $8.50 despite his consistent efforts in recent runs when taking out the Fehlbergs Produce Sprintlane Pace (2090m).

After sitting on the pylons from inside the second row, Duggan got the pacer into the clear at the top of the home straight to record a half-head win.

“If you drive him quiet and the gaps come, he is a horse that doesn’t put them away comfortably, but he knows how much he has just got to do,” Jacob said about the pacer who is trained by his father Adrian.

Duggan now has 90-lifetime wins and is closing in on outdriving his three-point concession claim in Tasmania, which he will regain if he moves to any other Australian state until he drives 200 career wins, with the treble being his first.

“I had driven plenty of doubles, but the third one usually gets beat a head,” Duggan said.