2016 UBET Adelaide Cup Heats
2016 UBET ADELAIDE CUP HEATS
Seven stunning heats of the UBET Adelaide Cup have been drawn together for Thursday night’s meeting at Angle Park with many believing this is the strongest series seen on the Angle Park loam. GRSA received 57 final nominations for the Group 1 series with 26 trained in South Australia including Group 1 National Sprint Champion Worm Burner, 30 from Victoria and 1 from New South Wales.
The first heat, which is race 2 on the program due to start at 6.58pm (SA time) see’s local sprinting star Fabregal for trainer Robyn Mackellar taking on the big boys on the National stage yet again. She has done it all before winning the Group 2 Futurity in Queensland, running second in the WA Oaks and making the Group 1 National Sprint Final however she has again drawn awkwardly in box 5 and will need to use all her speed to gain a forward position. Leading Victorian trainer Jason Thompson returns to SA with a strong hand in the series kicked off by Invictus Rapid who has drawn perfectly in box 2. He recently was placed in the Healesville Cup Final and made the Shepparton Cup Final last start however finished unplaced when well in the market. Jason knows what it takes to win an Adelaide Cup having won back to back Cups most recently with Whippy’s Image and El Galo in the late 2000’s and maybe Invictus Rapid is the next champion in the making. Allen Demeter was brilliant in winning last start at Sandown for Jeff Britton in a slick 29.57, Amelia Christa trialled last week at Angle Park in a sizzling 29.76 in preparation for the series and has won her last two starts for Robin Moore while Channing for Troy Murray is first up from WA and has to be respected having won the Group 3 Young Star Classic back in November last year. One of the outsiders of the race is Dyna Boomer for Andrea Dailly who has only had the 11 lifetimes starts however has been impressive against the highest quality of opposition and looks a real prospect in the making.
The second heat is race 3 due to start at 7.22pm local time and see’s another fabulous line up including Pantera Nera for Victorian trainer Gavin Burke looking to add another feature race to the CV. He was brave in defeat last start in the Group 1 Dapto Megastar which followed his impressive win in the Black Top at the Gardens. Earlier this year he won the Group 2 Traralgon Cup and has gone from strength to strength each run this season. He also loves the pink box having had 9 starts from the 8 and has never missed a place winning 4 times and being placed on the 5 other occasions.
One of his main challengers is the Alan Britton trained Lithgow Panther who also boasts an imposing record however not from box 7 having only won 2 of his 8 attempts. The son of Milldean Panther cannot be taken lightly though with his power and strength over the concluding stages indicated by his brilliant 34.48 win at Sandown last start over the 595m when he started the very warm $1.20 favourite. Benteke returns to Adelaide after the National Sprint Final in August where he finished 6th and was far from disgraced when in the care of Ruth King. He returns with Brett Bravo who also knows how to win an Adelaide Cup when his wife Kelly prepared star Kilty Lad to win in 2011. Benteke has only had the one start for Brett finishing 5th at Sandown last week however he has drawn where he likes it, in box 2 and did trial on the Angle Park loam before the National Final in a blistering 29.49 so he is a big watch Thursday night. Molly Be Nimble, Mrs Bubbles and It’s Classified are high quality locals but will need to be at their best to qualify for next week’s big one.
Heat 3 which is race 4 on the program is due to jump at 7.43pm (SA time) and looks a real speed battle on paper with top chances Jesaulenko and Aqua Cheetah both drawn close to the rails. Victorian Jesaulenko trained by Terri-Maree Morris boasts an imposing record of 22 wins from 45 starts and is blessed with extreme high speed. He is first up in SA and could be the omen tip for all the AFL fanatics during Grand Final week being named after Carlton superstar Alex Jesaulenko. Aqua Cheetah has drawn perfectly in box 1 and is Jason Thompson’s second chance at qualifying for the Cup. He has been placed in the Cranbourne Puppy Classic and the Bob Payne Sprint at Wentworth Park and recently won in a BON 29.49 at Sandown. Local hope Ruff State for Ken Gill will be hoping his good form continues after his terrific placing in the Group 3 SA Derby followed by a comfortable 29.89 win at headquarters last week when he lead throughout. Ken will be hoping for a similar turn of foot from Ruff State as his champion Ernie Bung Arrow showed in the 2013 series where he was able to lead both his Heat and Finals to memorable victories. Both Benta Bale and Dream Edition have excellent form back in their home state of Victoria and will look to capitalise if any of the favourites are slightly off their game.
The fourth heat is the first leg of the Quadrella and you would need to put all the runners in to be guaranteed of survival. Ritza Lenny leads the way for NSW trainer Mark Gatt who has been in rare form this season with placings in the Group 1 Peter Mossman Classic and Dapto Megastar and a win in the keenly contested Bob Payne Sprint. He will need some luck from box 7 however he is the class of the field which should give him every chance to qualify.
His challengers will come thick and fast from the likes of Shima Song trained by Andrea Dailly who will be hoping to add another winner to her Adelaide Cup honour role. She has trained 3 of the last 4 winners which include Spud Regis (2012), Allen Deed (2014) and last year the memorable victory of superstar, Fernando Bale. Shima Song ran a top third last start in the Shepparton Cup and recently went past the $100,000 in prizemoney. We see the welcome return back to South Australia of Hukanui now in the care of Victorian trainer Darren Pattinson. Owned by Tony and Lisa Rasmussen he unfortunately got injured in the Howard Ashton series back in May and was sent to Victoria to recover. He returned to the track at Warragul last week running an encouraging second and with a best time on the Angle Park track of 29.43 anything close to that will see him in the big one. Both Mepunga Fame and Crackerjack Choc have ample ability from the Garden State and are drawn to be very competitive while local hope Caustic Bale for trainer Ben Rawlings has the explosive speed to worry this field and while box 8 is not perfect he has won 6 races from 11 starts from the pink box.
Heat 5 is race 6 which is due to jump at 8.28pm and Dundee Osprey for trainer Geoff Scott-Smith who is one of the leading contenders for the series has drawn perfectly in box 1. He ran 4th in the National Sprint Final back in August which was a super run at his first look at the Angle Park track before he went back to Victoria and won the Speedstar at Sandown in a blistering 29.27 and then an open class win at the Meadows. Aeroplane Bob for Jason Thompson has won 3 of his last 4 starts and looks nicely drawn in box 2 having won 3 races from the stripe. The charge to the first turn will be exciting with most locals hoping Marlow Brown can continue his excellent from and cross from box 7. The Paula Hearnden trained flyer looks to have gone to another level after two convincing wins over local superstar Worm Burner and he has shown when he finds the front virtually nothing can run past him. Both Shelley Keeping who ran terrific in the SA Oaks series and One For Me who has strong Victorian form look solid eachway chances while locals Zipping Comet and Dyna Keitaro will be looking for the rails early in an attempt to run home hard.
Race 7 is the penultimate heat due to start at 8.52pm and what a race it promises to be. Weekend Binge for Kel Greenough returns to the scene of his brilliant SA Derby victory where he gutsed out a determined win. He qualified for the Derby Final by running a sizzling 29.47 and a repeat of that will surely see him in next weeks Final.
However there is a long list of challengers starting with Blazin’ Bomber for Darren Pattinson who is returning to the track after two months off. He has been racing at the top and against the best in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and WA for the past 12 months since he won a Heat of the SA Derby last year. Unfortunately he couldn’t take his spot in the Final due to injury however he did gain valuable experience on the Angle Park track which should see him in good stead for the Cup series. One of the most consistent greyhounds in Victoria is the Mark Delbridge trained Allen Terminator who doesn’t seem to run a bad race and has the exceptional record of 24 wins and 15 placings from just 52 starts. He wins 75% of his races when he draws box 2 so he looks very hard to beat. Leo’s Gift who made the SA Derby Final and Miracle now trained by Troy Murray who won the recent Darwin Cup provide plenty of depth to this race along with Lachlan Brown who could go one better than last years unbelievable second placing in the Adelaide Cup 1 Final. In what has been a terrific training performances by Paula Hearnden to not only get Lachlan Brown back to the track after 9 months of for injury but to a series where he was part of history is an exceptional performance. I’m sure no one would begrudge Lachlan Brown making his second Cup Final.
Race 8 is due to start at 9.13pm local time and is the seventh and final Heat with all eyes of the Nation looking to see if local champion Worm Burner can repeat the dose he handed out to his competitors in the National Sprint Final only 1 month ago. After winning 13 races in a row he looked invincible until his last two starts where he found trouble from inside draws. He was still able to belt home in around 12.50 but he gave up to big a start. On Thursday night he has drawn perfectly in box 7 which should give him plenty of room to balance up and hopefully power home for victory. Having said that these are Group 1 Heats and all are capable of scintillating performances and it would be no surprise to see last start 29.60 winner from Sandown, Bruce Tycoon for Rob Britton kick up and hold the lead as he loves the red box winning 6 races from the 1. Marley Bale for Andrea Dailly flew in the Shepparton Cup series winning a heat and then finishing 5th in the Final. He has recently run 29.33 at Sandown and did win the Perth Cup consolation back in April. Sausage Sizzle and Dundee Cobra from Victoria both have very good interstate records while local iron dog Gun McBain will be looking to make it win number 52 especially if he can find the front.
The Adelaide Cup brings together some of the best greyhound talent in the country with many having terrific success through the series and going on to become household names in the Industry. It’s a testament to the quality of this year’s edition that we have listed almost every single greyhound in this preview and still may have missed the winner.
The UBET Adelaide Cup Final carries total prizemoney of $107,500, with the winner to receive $75,000. With seven heats each winner and the fastest second placegetter will progress through to the Group 1 Final on Friday night 7th October.
GRSA appreciates the continuing support of GRVIC for allowing our premier night to be conducted on a Friday each year in the interests of the National Racing calendar. By GRVIC swapping one of their meetings the Group 1 UBET Adelaide Cup will gain maximum coverage to the wider community with all races being shown on Sky Racing 1 and makes for a terrific start to the weekend.
The Box Draw for the Adelaide Cup Final will take place on course after the running of race 9 this Thursday night at approximately 9.45pm (SA time).
For those greyhounds that miss out on qualifying for the Adelaide Cup Final there will be an $8,565 consolation on the program where trainers will need to renominate to be considered. We will also have the Premier’s Cup worth $9,140 over the 731m on the program open to all greyhounds along with other graded events.