Finniss Jewel ready to be crowned in Kings And Queens Final
The final of the 2023 Kings and Queens series will take place this Thursday night at Angle Park with the race shaping up as one with three key chances.
Two heats were run last week with Fiorano for Brenda Oakey continuing his dominant form with an emphatic 30.52 victory in one of the heats. The other heat saw Finniss Jewel cause a big upset in defeating Could Be King with a super strong 30.85.
It has been quite a stunning rise for Finniss Jewel who is trained by the duo of Ryan Tugwell and Lauren Harris. The black bitch has made incredible improvement at each of her career starts with her last three runs resulting in fantastic victories.
Three starts ago, she ran a flying 30.39 at Angle Park when she was able to work around the field early to get clear running before following that up with a brave effort to take out a Monday night grade 5 after having no luck in the run.
The pair of impressive runs led up to her effort last week in the heats, where she overcame trouble to land a stirring 30.85 victory which pleased trainer Tugwell.
“I was rapt (with the heat win), she was pretty fresh going into the race, which is what we had planned on doing. She will be better for that now,” Tugwell said.
“I thought whoever was in front (would win), we’ve (Could Be King & Finniss Jewel) got similar run home times. She did that 12.49 when she ran the good time of 30.39 and that run home that night showed us what she could do with clear running. We don’t even know what she’s capable of yet.”
With a ten-day break leading into last week’s heat run. Tugwell thinks Finniss Jewel will be better for the run and is well placed to improve in this week’s final.
“She’s come through (the week) good, checked out well, she should just be better for the run last week,” Tugwell said.
“She had that 10 day break, she’s naturally strong so we’ve tried to keep her fresh knowing that she’s had that run last week.
The box draw hasn’t fallen the way of Finniss Jewel as she has come up with a tricky box six draw with the other key chances in Could Be King and Fiorano both landing low draws but Tugwell is hoping that she can get a clear run into the first turn.
“I’m alright with it, Lauren probably wanted the inside but her good wins have come from out wide, so it just depends on clear running,” he said.
“She’s going to need to jump well and probably miss the eight (Ragin’ Riot). The three (Fiorano) will probably lead but we just don’t know what she (Finniss Jewel) is capable of yet.
“She’s gone low 5.30s, but she will need to replicate that. She won’t want to spot them too much of a start down the back, we will know more when they get around the first turn.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An excellent Free For All race over the 595m distance will kick off the program on Thursday night with a super strong field set to compete in the race.
There are several key chances for the races which include Springvale Roxy who took out a FFA event over the 530m distance last week, Ravers Army who returns off an impressive run in the Nationals Final at the Meadows over 525m and Dash Of Blue who comes off a quick 35.54 victory last start.
One chaser who will be hoping to overturn a couple of the likely fancies will be Zoe Rose, who has been a revelation since coming to South Australia and joining the care of Tony Lagana.
The brindle bitch has put together some terrific performances in recent starts and last week she returned to the winners list with a stunning victory over the 530m distance.
After running two weeks ago in the National Distance Final over 730m, it was an awesome effort last week to overcome box eight over the 530m trip. She started slowly and found herself a clear last with plenty of work to do and by the time they got to the home turn, she still had eight lengths to make up.
A strong run home allowed her to storm over the top and claim the victory which surprised Lagana given her slow beginning.
“Down the back, I didn’t think she had a hope to be honest! She’s a strong bitch, she’s a quick dog as well but she just finds a little bit of trouble,” Lagana said.
“She can run, it’s just if she settles down and finds no trouble then she would be a much better dog.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her. When I first started her, she was coming out of the boxes a little bit better but she seems to play up in the lids and sometimes they can change.”
Whilst it’s a formidable task ahead for the brindle bitch this Thursday, she will be hoping to make the most of box one, a draw that has really pleased Lagana.
“I really think that if she doesn’t get into trouble then she will be hard to beat, that’s the way I look at it. It’s box one so she’s on the rail and she loves to rail,” Lagana said.
“If she’s in the first four then she will probably win anyhow. Last week, that run was a huge run which is what people were telling me. I wasn’t really keen on the time but it’s the way she did it. She seemed to handle the field well.”
Racing will start at 6:40pm local time.
Best Bet: Agent Nine Nine (Race 7, Number 3)
Value Bet: Fawn Charger (Race 11, Number 5)