2017 SA St Leger - Box Draw
2017 SA ST LEGER – BOX DRAW
Three exciting heats were conducted last night at Angle Park where greyhounds qualified for next week’s prestigious SA St Leger final.
The first heat was taken out by the Ken Gill trained Windmill Haze who surprised everyone with his win including the bookmakers starting at $66 on the UBET tote. The son of Barcia Bale and Contrary Mary ran home powerfully to score by 2 lengths in a solid 30.03. He defeated Aston Apollo who showed terrific early speed to lead for most of the race with race favourite High Eden Snow running home well to grab third with a wall of greyhounds behind the placegetters. Unfortunately High Eden Snow was found to be injured after the event and was unable to take its place in the final next week.
The fastest qualifier for next weeks final was the Jan Jones trained Dream A Little who upset race favourite On Fire in a very slick 29.80 for the 515m journey. The daughter of Banjo Boy and Zardae won by over 2 lengths after charging home over the concluding stages, On Fire did the same but was no match for the winner. Rockstar Elle who showed blistering early pace was able to hang on for third place and qualify for next weeks final.
The final heat was marred by interference on the first turn putting pay to race favourite Purpose Driven and Aitch. Funky Monkey for Chris Jaensch was able to get the jump on her rivals from box 8 and power towards the front and prove too strong in the run home. The daughter of Cape Hawke and Power Of Blue won by 3 ½ lengths in a solid 30.08 from Thumb A Ride who showed good early pace while Scorching ran home nicely into third spot.
Its shaping as a super race for some of our most promising young chasers who will hopefully take the next step into open company in the coming months. The race has plenty of early speed and greyhounds who can really charge home so luck in running will play a huge part. As we saw in last night’s heats, anything can happen so good luck to all connections concerned.
The box draw for the 2017 SA St Leger final was conducted on track last night:
1. Scorching Matthew Payne
2. Thumb A Ride Troy Murray
3. Dream A Little Jan Jones
4. Windmill Haze Ken Gill
5. Rockstar Elle Sharyn Gray
6. Aston Apollo Troy Murray
7. On Fire Cameron Butcher
8. Funky Monkey Christopher Jaensch
9. Roc The Belvue (res) Cameron Butcher
10. Crunchin Numbers (res) Ben Rawlings
The $8,565 St Leger final will be run Thursday night 23rd February. The race is listed to jump at 9.13pm (SA time) and will be race 8 on the program with full coverage on Sky Racing 1.