Competitive Oaks and Derby Finals This Sunday Night
Competitive Oaks and Derby Finals This Sunday Night
Despite a gloomy weather forecast, it shapes as a terrific evening of racing this Sunday night at Murray Bridge.
The two features of the night will be Fischer Motors Murray Bridge Oaks and Fischer Motors Murray Bridge Derby, which have drawn together quality fields and they are both expected to be highly competitive races.
The races are age restricted events and this year will carry increased prize money, which includes over $5000 to the winner, with a $1000 bonus for the winning trainer of each event, if they are Murray Bridge Greyhound Racing Club members.
First of the two races will be the Oaks, with two heats run last week. The Kirin Corby trained Nell Brown produced a very impressive effort in heat one, to win and defeat the high quality Purified. It was a bumpy ride for both Nell Brown and Purified, as they came together multiple times in the run, but Nell Brown did enough to win in 25.85, by the barest of margins ahead of Purified.
The Lachlan Mill trained Fast Headache returned from a short spell to take out heat two in good fashion. From box eight, the fawn bitch came out quickly and darted over to the rail, interfering with the favourite Fantastic Ada. Out in front, Fast Headache was a bit too sharp, winning in 25.67, ahead of an eye-catching Fantastic Ada who arguably should have won.
Fast Headache is co-trained and owned, by Lachy and his partner Tara, who was taken aback by the performance of the Dyna Double One x Right Exit chaser.
“I was shocked by her heat run, we knew what she could do as we had seen it in trials and all reports from the breakers said she was a great box dog, but she hadn’t been able to put it together in a race yet. I was worried about box eight because she will carve straight to the rail but she managed to put everything together and jump in front before she moved to the rail.” said Tara
Having shown some ability in her first preparation, she was also quite raw at times, which was part of the reason for her five week break, but the effort in the heat shows that she may have started to put things together.
“We only have a small kennel and our other dogs had a few small injuries so we decided to give them all a few weeks off. We had been planning to give them all some time off at some point soon just because they’re so young and to let them mature a bit more.” said Tara
Box one in the final will mean that Fast Headache starts as one of the favourites and with a few runners looking to stay in the middle of the track, she will get her chance to win.
“I don’t like saying it but I think she’s got a good chance in the final. I am worried she will jump down to the rail which could affect her first split but other than that we know she has the strength and the ability, and she’s boxed to perfection. She would probably be the best chance we’ve ever had in a final so Sunday will be exciting to watch.” said Tara
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The Derby looks very good on paper too and with a couple of awkwardly boxed chasers in the race, it looks like a wide open event.
The Don Turner trained Know I’m One was awfully impressive in his heat, showing electric early speed and never letting the others into the race. From box four, he pounced on the arm and was never in danger, winning by two lengths in 25.61, ahead of a fast finishing Kia Ora Lad.
Kirin Corby will be hoping to take out both features for the night and will have a good chance in the Derby with Blue Intensity, who won heat two. From box two, he took a few strides to balance up, but once he worked to the front, he was never getting caught and ran away for a strong 25.62 win. He will be wanting some luck in the final as he has come up with box one, but would prefer to be up the track.
Whilst the two heat winners look the ones to beat in the final, their will be some hoping for an upset and one of those will be the Wendy Sebastyan, who has Lockaba Rocket in the final, following a handy third in the heat, which she was very happy with.
“I was very pleased with his run, it was a big step up in grade for him. He’s still very young and immature, but still learning, so I was very happy. He still has a flat spot which is the only thing I can fault him on at the moment, his box speed is improving and he surprises me every time he runs, he just shows me a little bit more.” said Sebastyan
Lockaba Rocket has shown glimpses of ability so far and has shown strength at the end of the 530m, with Sebastyan having eyes to put him over the longer distance in the future. Before that, she will be of course hoping that he can take out the Derby.
“He’s proven he runs the 500, he just has to put it all together. It looks like he might be taking after his father, Spring Bridge, so with time I think he will run the 600. We only pulled him back to change tracks and I thought I would put him in the Derby.” Said Sebastyan
Box two will certainly aid Lockaba Rocket in the final, but he will need to jump well and land in front. If that happens, then he could prove hard to run down, but Sebastyan concedes that it is unlikely.
“I think the one (Blue Intensity) and the three (Know I’m One) are going to be the main players in the race. The way the draw is, if he (Lockaba Rocket) gets left alone then he has a chance to run a place, but I don’t think they will beat the one or the three”. Said Sebastyan.
Racing will start at 5:22pm on Sunday.