Enthusiastic sets tongues wagging
The past week at the Bridge…
Tuesday (Straight Track)
We had a solid 10 races up the straight on Tuesday, and the winners were shared with 10 individual trainers scoring, which is always fantastic to see!
Petar Jovanovic kick started proceedings with his promising pup - Archman. After starting short in a city maiden and having no luck - he looked a certainty against the limited field. It was an easy ride in the end, as he found the front and strolled in for a big win, clocking a tidy 16.94.
Seymour’s Ando started a warm favourite for his new trainer, Graham Smith in the fifth race of the day. After only leaving the boxes fairly, he found a bit of traffic mid race, before exploding late to run down an inform Bacardi Blaze. It was a really nice effort and I’m sure he will be winning a few more Graham.
One of the more impressive efforts of the meeting went to Curl’s Victory, who had recently joined the care of Karryn and Tony Nobes. The black bitch came to the straight after some very sound efforts at Angle Park. She started $1.40 and when the lids opened it was clear to see why. She bounded out with a slick 4.42 first split before dropping the field and winning in a BOD 16.64.
Dog to follow: Leroy Deploy - Had his first run since November and although he finished last, it was actually a very good effort. He was never out of trouble during the run, yet still was only 4L away from the winner. Hopefully we can see him again soon as I think he can win at odds.
Sunday (1-Turn)
Lauren Haris kicked off the 10 race card with Finiss Spice winning her maiden in nice fashion. Jumping from box 8, she was able to clear the small field to find the front, before holding off a challenge from Bourdain who ran his 8th placing from 11 starts. Finiss Spice is the second dog to knock off the maiden from Zambora Brockie x Wynburn Geri litter.
Jack’s Well was able to return to the winners list, for just the third time since July. After returning from a break last week with a really nice effort, he was backed like no tomorrow to start a long odds on favourite. Punters had a few nervous moments early with Jack’s Knight putting plenty of pressure on the favourite, but with a bit of fortune, Jack’s Well was able to scoot away and win by a huge margin.
Spring Vinnie made a return after three months off for his new trainer - Bob Fletcher. Vinnie has battled a few injuries in recent times but his effort Sunday says he is over them. He drew his favourite box in 8, but also faced a stern task with the field he drew. That didn’t worry Vinnie, however, as he used the box perfectly to stay away from the trouble below, before sailing past the leader and winning in a sharp 22.38. A superb effort from both Bob and Vinnie!
The performance from any dog all week went to Enthusiastic, trained by Nicole Price. He drew box 8 in a relatively challenging grade 5, but neither of those factors worried him. He simply exploded, leading all the way and running 21.91 - totally airborne. I said last week that I thought Patched was our premier sprinter in the state, well I think I may have gone a week early! I reckon their might be a few trainers hoping they don’t lob in the same race as Enthusiastic in the coming weeks.
Photo: Enthusiastic posing at home, looking very noble
Dog to follow: Howling Hoss - Don’t look at the form guide for this one, as 7/8 beaten by 16L won’t tell you anything good. Having his second run back from a short freshen up, he jumped okay before he found a stack of trouble mid race to be a long way off the pack. His last 100m of the race was really good though and he made a lot of ground off the dogs in front of him. He’s ready for another crack over the 455m trip and I would be pretty confident that he runs well.