2019 Shane McQueen Final Review
In front of a huge June crowd at Angle Park last night, More Rum Bateman for trainer Kevin Murnane landed the prestigious Shane McQueen Feature when the son of My Bro Fabio and Miss Tupelo came from the clouds to score an upset victory.
More Rum Bateman had been in consistent form over the staying trip and put the writing on the wall with an eye catching second in last week's heats over the 600m, however due to the high quality of the field he was sent out at double figure odds by the bookies & paid an amazing $46.00 on the TAB for his victory.
As the start was affected More Rum Bateman (box 5) was fairly away with Love Made Me (2) for Troy Murray, Staunch As (3) for Derek Anderson, Master Chaos (6) for Irene Rehmann, Come Home (7) for Lisa Rasmussen and Jack Get Back (8) for Ken Trowbridge all pushing hard for the lead. Into the front straight Love Made Me was crossed by Staunch As who was first challenged by Master Chaos but then the pair were crossed by Come Home who charged to the front down the front straight. Meanwhile More Rum Bateman was getting balanced up and starting to go through his gears as they left the front straight. Into the back straight and Come Home had a length advantage over Master Chaos who was looming ominously while Jack Get Back and Staunch As battled out for third. Off the back straight and More Rum Bateman still had plenty of work to do from midfield as both Come Home and Master Chaos looked to have the race amongst themselves. Turning for home and Master Chaos levelled up with Come Home however More Rum Bateman had gone past Jack Get Back into third and set his sights on the leaders. Down the final straight and More Rum Bateman sprouted wings to claim the leaders and go on and win by almost 1 length in a flying 35.05 for the 600m with a brilliant finishing burst. Master Chaos continued his good form into second and Come Home also ran well for third.
On the dais Kevin Murnane was gracious in winning the McQueen final, a race he had been chasing for a number of years and paid tribute to the McQueen family which were in attendance. In what was one of the biggest wins of his training career, he also acknowledged the support of his owners and partner, and the performance of More Rum Bateman.
More Rum Bateman has now won 7 races with 16 placings from 46 starts with career prize-money around $20,000.
The race is named in honour of ex GRSA CEO Shane McQueen who was a terrific greyhound administrator in WA and SA until his untimely passing in 2003.
