Shane McQueen heats shine on wet night at Angle Park
While most of the attention was on Victa Damian and the Group 3 Howard Ashton final, the Thursday night card saw a night of excellent racing headlined by four heats of the Shane McQueen series run over the 595m trip.
The Ben Rawlings trained Could Be King continued its excellent recent form over the middle distance with its second win from three starts in the final heat of the night. Despite the persistent rain slowing the speed of the track, Could Be King ran the fastest heat time, winning in a quick 34.42 from box seven and holding off the fast-finishing Dash of Blue for trainer Richard Pearce.
Speaking after the race, trainer Ben Rawlings said they had high hopes for the young chaser who now has eight wins from just 14 career starts.
“We have had a good opinion of him for a while and he is only young,” Rawlings said.
“He probably showed that he wanted the distance through his first few starts, and he is stronger and running it out well.”
For our Howard Ashton final recap click here.
Next week’s final shapes as a competitive affair after a number of impressive performances across all four heats.
The Tim Aloisi-trained Ravers Army looms as the favourite after continuing its excellent run of recent form making it six straight wins with a solid showing in heat one.
Jumping last in the six-dog field, Ravers Army to make good ground around the back before hitting the lead and kicking away to win by four lengths in 34.64.
Heat two was the closest run affair of the night with just one length separating the first four runners with Machismo powering through on the rail to win over Miss Scallywag.
Springvale Max for trainer Gavin Harris claimed the third heat holding off the fast-finishing Hoogley to book its place in next week’s final.
The box draw was conducted on Thursday night with fancies Ravers Army, Could Be King and Machismo drawing boxes six, seven and eight respectively.
While Rawlings said the draw for Could Be King wasn’t ideal, the way the race is mapped will mean he has a strong chance at success.
“We probably wanted the inside but the way the map is, it is probably not too bad with less speed on the outside and the six (Ravers Army) is probably going to head to the fence,” Rawlings said.
“Hopefully with a full field there is a bit of pace as he likes to chase. If something can get him through to the top turn and let him unleash his pace, he can be really competitive. “
Rawlings was able to cap a good Thursday night at the track with a double thanks to another impressive win for Agent Nine Nine in the 10th race on the card.
Overcoming a slow start, Agent Nine Nine was able to quickly get into its work before winning in 30.91 to make It four straight victories.
“She has really matured,” Rawlings said of Agent Nine Nine.
She took his time to get going tonight and she came out last which isn’t normal for her, she normally on the speed but she worked well to the lead and gotten a lot stronger.”
Gavin Harris, Tim Aloisi and Kiah Hurley also picked up doubles on the 12-race program while an eye-catching performance from first start winner One Last Kiss caught the eye.
Heavily supported in betting, the Bill Wudarczyk trained runner blitzed the six-dog field winning wire to wire in 30.59 and finishing nearly 12 lengths in front of its nearest competitor.
Racing continues at Angle Park on Saturday morning with meetings to follow at headquarters on Monday night and Tuesday afternoon before the Shane McQueen final headlines the action next Thursday night.