First Spring Meeting at the Bridge
10 races up the straight track for the first Spring meeting, and the weather came straight from the top shelf!! The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and there was just the slightest breeze..... strewth, sounds like I’m in a Mills & Boon novel!
The conditions were perfect and the first race was the Daish Maiden. Some pronunciation was confirmed and Gigantes is definitely pronounced Gigantes, and not Gigantes. It didn’t matter in the end with For The Thrill proving way too good in a solid 16:67 over the three hunjy in start number 3.
The second was another maiden and this one saw the well fancied Sesh Gremlin for Graham Smith line up as the short priced fave. The brindle dog has started favourite two out of his only three other starts and had failed to deliver but today was his day. Deedy and Cawbourne were in the market but after a slow start Sesh Gremlin gathered himself up and to be fair, he looked the winner a long way out.
The grade 6 heats were next on the card and the line up was solid. Oakvale Impact had the inside box and was backing up after a good Angle Park win. Rockin’ Richard, who would come a long last in a beauty contest (and described by his breeder as a unique weirdo), was the punters pick. His gangliness and long stride should have suited Murray Bridge....and it did. He, and his rather large Roman nose, crossed the line just ahead of Oakvale impact and the real good looking dog, Dutch Cookies back in 3rd.
Aston merlin started the fave in the 4th race, and he deserved to be too with his recent Murray Bridge form being top notch. There was enough money on him to start odds on but the astute tipster could have looked right down the bottom of the starting line up and seen Heart and Soul. The fastest of the dogs over this distance in the field, and it’s owned Brian Sebastyan and it was his birthday....and heart and Soul delivered the best pressie with a bit of an upset win.
Oakvale Elite took out the 5th race in a best time of 16:39 and talking with trainer Nathan Wilson she, and a couple other “Oakvale” dogs might now be headed for the Oaks down in the big smoke.
Hot Dessert Storm took out the final grade 6 heat and it wasn’t a surprise, but it did take longer than most expected. The cheeky Keungi gave plenty of cheek out in front and was doing all she called to hang in there but just couldn’t quite do it. Bloody good run all the same and watch for her in her next start.
Race 7 was the first of three races over the 350 metres. There were a few handy ones in this with a couple battling for favouritism – namely Hank The Hustler and Fantastic Shell, with Chevy Chaser and Wheel Burner on the second line. Both favoured dogs were having their first look up the straight track and Fantastic Shell handled the going a smidge better with Hank just looking a bit lost. Dusty Divot ran second and Chevy Chaser filled third. Fantastic Shell is trained by Ossie Chegia and we all pass on our best wishes and hope we see Ossie back at the track soon after a recent health issue.
The eight saw the 300 metre track record holder, Brace and Bits, return and step up to the big boys distance. The extra 50 metres didn’t deter punters with the big fawn unit starting $1.15 heavy favourite. There was a good chunk of cash thrown at Joffa’s Galaxy with his price coming in from a cricket score to about 5 bucks, but the plunge didn’t land. Brace and Bits was in front at the start, the middle and the end and made it look routinely boring with kennelmate Betty Bowl running second at any old odds. The time was 18:83 and was the best of the day over the distance. The win also gave Bec Romyn a treble and training honours for the day.... and speaking of pronunciation the word is Romyn is pronounced Romain ..... mystery solved!
Craggy Island lined up in the 10th, the same race number he was in on Sunday and proved too good again. Ray is working hard to get this fawn boy to the starting boxes for the Derby and given he’s now had 9 wins from 10 starts you can see why!
The lucky last was back over the 300m and five of the 6 runners were all within 2 bucks of each other! It was a race that could have been run 10 times and have 10 different results, but for today it was Pablo’s Pup for Team Palmer that got the chocolates. It was pretty bonza to see them get a win after a run of bad luck lately.
We’re back up the straight for 3 of the 4 next week’s so we’ll keep you across all the racing!
Anyway, that was Murray Bridge for the 2ndof September 2020 and that was my story!
Photo of Bec Romyn and daughter Ashlee after race 8