Angle Park Review - 20th April 2023
A fantastic night of racing at Angle Park last night with heats of both the SA Anniversary Cup and SA Distance Championships being run in front of a busy crowd in Chasers Restaurant.
SA Distance Championship heats
The staying events are always a highlight of any program and last night's at Angle Park saw two quality heats for the SA Distance Championship. The first heat saw Vadim Roz's Yarramundi Paul sent out as an early favourite and as the race started it was him and Jason Newman's Wind Burn Flash who set the early pace. In his first start over the 730m, Yarramundi Paul pushed ahead to lead Wind Burn Flash by four lengths with Tomato Tears a further five lengths back in third as Zipping Senorita started to muster in fourth. Into the last turn and Yarramundi Paul appeared to start losing steam with Wind Burn Flash still in hot pursuit while Zipping Senorita had made up considerable ground on the leading pair. Into the home straight and it was Zipping Senorita who was finishing the best as she went past Wind Burn Flash and then Yarramundi Paul to record a 43.09-second win for trainer Cameron Forshaw.
The second heat saw another fast start with Bedrock Will jumping smartly from box 1 to pinch a break on the field for trainer Clint Trengove. Mount Gambier Cup finalist Springvale Rex moved into second place for Gavin Harris with Miss Free Reign and Machismo also in hot pursuit. In his first run over the 730m journey, the question was whether Bedrock Will would maintain this pace out and into the back straight Springvale Rex had taken over, powering to a 2-length lead. Into the home straight, Springvale Rex had skipped away going on to win by an impressive five lengths in 42.96 seconds. Bedrock Will did well to keep Vadim Roz's Machismo at bay to finish well in second place while pre-race favourite Zipping Patch had come from well back to finish in fourth to qualify for the final.
Next weeks final will no doubt be one not to miss!
SA Anniversary Cup heats
With the stayers now done for the night, it was the sprinters' turn to show what they can do in the three heats for the SA Anniversary Cup with first and second from each, and the two quickest third placegetters getting through to the final next week.
In the first heat, Basil Brush Rose produced a fantastic run for trainer Renata Maruszczyk to come from last to first and pinch the win on the line from Victa Marli for Tony Rasmussen in a time of 30.62 seconds. The second heat saw Springvale Maddi continue her run of good form leading all the way to win finishing in a slick 30.43 seconds. Razzle Darryl used his rails draw well to run on into second place for Paul Rehmann with Oh Louise running on into third place for Tim Richards and qualifying for the final.
The last heat of the series saw the return of Tony Rasmussen's Victa Alby to Angle Park after competing in the Launching Pad Final at Sandown recently. He began strongly from out wide in box 7 and was able to just cross the field to the first turn and pinch a break on the field. Murray Bridge Cup winner Panorama also began well from box 8 for trainer Ben Rawlings and was pushing hard in second with Gavin Harris' Springvale Max in third place. However, the order in did not change in the run home and Victa Alby was able to record a terrific win in 30.53 seconds with Panorama and Springvale Max both qualifying for the final which on paper looks set to be a cracking edition of the series.
Maiden Series Final
Victa Tara continued the impressive start to her career taking out the night's Maiden Final leading all the way to a 30.94 second win which included a blistering first split of 5.21. With the success of her littermates Victa Damian and Victa Alby there will be much interest to see how she progresses for trainer Tony Rasmussen.