Victa Damian shines in Howard Ashton semis
VICTA Damian produced another impressive performance as the Rasmussen kennel dominated the two semi-finals of the Group 3 Howard Ashton series at Angle Park on Thursday.
The Rasmussen team will have seven runners in next week’s headlined by Victa Damian, who produced another excellent run to win semi-final 1 in a slick time of 30.04. The star chaser had plenty of competition to the first turn but kicked away down the back straight pulling away from Live It and Victa Alby to win by seven and a half lengths. The second semi-final was a tighter affair with Victa Marli powering home late to defeat Victa Speed and the Tim Richards trained Coorong Cam, who will be the only non-Rasmussen runner in the final.
Speaking after the two semi-finals last night, trainer Tony Rasmussen said that he was thrilled with the result and to be able to put seven dogs into the final.
“We are absolutely ecstatic with that result and I can’t ask for much better than what we have done today,” Rasmussen said.
“I have never had this many dogs in a final before and I have made a lot of finals, but we worked hard at home and all my team are here tonight and its pretty special.”
While many thought a track record would be on the cards for Victa Damian, he was held up slightly in early traffic before pulling away and winning comfortably to make it 12 wins from 18 career starts.
Rasmussen said that the Howard Ashton series was the perfect opportunity for Victa Damian to find some form and confidence heading into the second half of the year.
“He is a dog that is just up and coming, there has been a lot of people who have knocked what with have done with the dog but at the end of the day, we have tried to do what we think is best for the dog,” Rasmussen said.
“He has been racing against the best dogs in Australia and he needed to come back to SA, get some confidence under his belt and this is the perfect opportunity to do that. "
He has drawn box one in next week’s final, where he boasts two starts for two wins, but Rasmussen says that Victa Damian will need an ounce of luck in next week’s final with pressure coming from several of his litter mates including Victa Alby and Victa Marli.
“With the box he has drawn and the way it has panned out, there is a lot of pace outside him and he is going to need an ounce of luck on that first corner,” he said.
“Victa Marli is a good honest chaser and Victa Alby is a good dog and if there are any mistakes, he will give Victa Damian a good run for its money.”
While the Howard Ashton semis were the main attraction on Thursday’s night card, there was also some other excellent action on the Angle Park card.
Races two and three saw a pair of races run over the 595m journey ahead of next week’s heats of the Shane McQueen series over the middle distance.
The first race over the 595m journey saw Air Outlaw for trainer David Rundle hold off the fast finishing Could Be King and Miss Free Reign while the second race saw Ravers Army produced a quick run home to win in 34.33.
Ben Rawlings had a double on the night with a pair of winners late in the card with the first being My Boys who came to Angle Park off a last start win at Gawler. After jumping well, it kicked away from Panama Queen before wobbling in the home straight before hanging onto win from a fast-finishing Nicola Rose. The second winner was Agent Nineteen in the last race of the night who ran an impressive time of 30.46 and winning by six and a quarter lengths.