2013 Triple M Adelaide Cup Box Draw
Last night at Angle Park we saw five exciting heats of the Triple M Adelaide Cup where the winners and the three fastest second placegetters from each heat qualified for next week’s big Group 1 final. The fastest qualifier for the final was the Rob Britton trained Victorian Farmor Las Vegas who blitzed his rivals in the first heat of the night running a brilliant 29.36 for the 515m journey. He led throughout from box 6 running splits of 4.41 and 16.63 with his winning time equalling the fastest recorded on the track since Proven Nitro’s sizzling performance 12 months ago in last years Cup heats. He defeated last start Group 1 winner Peter Rocket by 4½ lengths who was slow out early and did a good job to chase home hard and also qualify for the Final.
The second heat went the way that most form judges anticipated with the Jason Thompson trained Ronan Izmir making full use of box 1 to lead throughout and defeat Kokoda Spirit who came across from her outside box early in the event and run a strong second. Ronan Izmir recorded a flying 29.63 for the 515m journey with splits of 4.42 and 16.78 in winning by 1¾ lengths with Kokoda’s Spirits time of 29.74 also qualifying her for the Final.
The third heat was also dominated by the Victorians with Tomac Bale for Mark Delbridge proving too classy for his rivals on the night. He stepped reasonably from the inside box to push through on the first turn and from there it was just a matter of how far he would win by. Tomac Bale stopped the clock in 29.63 with splits of 4.47 and 16.87 defeating South Australian Benchmark who ran a terrific race beaten 5½ lengths.
Tomac Bale has drawn the converted red box in the final however there is plenty of speed on his outside so a quick beginning is a must.
Heat 4 saw another brilliant display of chasing by a Rob Britton trained greyhound with Iona Seven continuing on her winning way easily accounting for her rivals in a sizzling 29.41 winning by 7½ lengths. She has given Rob a two pronged attack in next weeks final and after drawing box 3 for the Group 1 she is a serious player to take out the title. She ran splits of 4.39 and 16.69 in defeating SA’s Fire Tyson who has been gradually getting back to his very best for trainer Tony Lagana and also qualified for next weeks final as the third fastest second placegetter.
All local eyes then turned to the final heat of the night with SA’s pin up chaser Ernie Bung Arrow shooting for his 12th win from 13 starts and a place in next weeks Group 1. The Ken Gill trained speedster didn’t disappoint his supporters with another display of front running chasing. He began faultlessly from box 8 and raced to the front early and from there it was a matter of how quick and how far. He recorded a flying 29.60 with splits of 4.35 and 16.74 in defeating Webster by 5¼ lengths. He goes into next weeks final as one of the favourites after drawing the box that he wanted, box 8.
Both Ernie Bung Arrow and Fire Tyson will be looking to be the first South Australian trained greyhounds to take out the title since Miss Spicy won in 2006 and the first SA Bred and trained greyhounds since Brookside Bear won in 2002. Their Breeders will also be hoping for Group 1 glory as part of the SA Bred Super Bonus Scheme they have already won $1,000 just by making the Group 1 final however if either can greet the judge first next Thursday night another $12,500 will jump into the breeders pocket.
The $107,500 Group 1 Final will be run next Thursday night 10th October. It will be race 8 on the program and is listed to jump at 9.23pm (SA time).
The Final field in Box Draw order is:
1. Tomac Bale Mark Delbridge (Vic)
2. Ronan Izmir Jason Thompson (Vic)
3. Iona Seven Rob Britton (Vic)
4. Fire Tyson Tony Lagana (SA)
5. Farmor Las Vegas Rob Britton (Vic)
6. Kokoda Spirit Mark Morrissey (Vic)
7. Peter Rocket Keith Hullmuth (Vic)
8. Ernie Bung Arrow Ken Gill (SA)
9. Webster (1st Res) Kim Johnstone (SA)
10.Benchmark (2nd Res) Petar Jovanovic (SA)