Flip The Script Ready For Easter Cup Challenge
Heats of the 2023 Easter Cup will be run this Thursday night at Angle Park, with the final to be made up of the first four placegetters in both heats.
A highlight of the calendar each year in South Australia, the 5959m event always proves a great spectacle. Last year, the race went the way of Weblec Star for Neville Loechel, with the staying bitch proving too hard to stop in the final.
It’s a strong series this year with plenty of top-end talent set to make for some competitive racing. The Neil Mann-trained Flip The Script will be having his first start over the 595m trip at Angle Park, when he lines up in the first heat of the Easter Cup, off the back of some super strong efforts over the 530m trip.
Ever since arriving from New South Wales to the care of Neil Mann, the brindle dog has continued to get better each start, with his last three efforts at Angle Park, all resulting in close seconds, which undoubtedly would have been firsts if not for some better luck in his races.
It will be a task on Thursday night as he will need to offset box seven, as well as face some inform chasers which include Fantastic Luna and Yarramundi Paul.
Neil Mann is happy with the progress of his chaser and despite the tough challenge awaiting on Thursday, he is optimistic that he can run well.
“There should be a couple of ones in front of his name! He got tripped up by Tomato Tears in the back straight last week and nearly got her on the line,” said Mann
“And he should have won the start before as well but he was inconvenienced. His run homes are unbelievable, it’s just that he tends to get in a bit of strife going down the back straight.”
“When I got him over, I took him to John’s (Katakasi) and he had a few sore bits, so he had a few bandages on his next start.”
“The owner said don’t run him with anything so I ran him with nothing on and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. He ran last but he ran a quicker time than when he ran third at Gawler.”
“To cut a long story short I still wasn’t happy with him, so I took him back to John, I said to do a blood test and well (there was a bit wrong), he was iron deficient, he had thyroid issues and a few different things. We put him on the tablets and he just seems to be going from one strength to another so we will keep our fingers crossed.”
“I’ve got him on those Accell blankets and he loves it, he runs and jumps on the thing, he’s very happy.”
“It’s his first 595, I wanted to put him up last week but the owner said to give him another 530. When I saw this coming up I thought I would give him a week off and try him in this one. Being an Open race, you’re going to cop some tough dogs but I reckon he will be there, I really do. As long as they aren’t too quick early and get away from him.”
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Another chaser who will be hoping to make their mark on this year's Easter Cup is the Paul Fagan-trained Aston Arena, who has been a consistent chaser since arriving in South Australia quite some time ago.
It was only two starts ago that she won over the 595m trip at Angle Park from box six, winning in 34.62. Following that win, she dropped back in the trip last week and ran on strongly.
Thursday night she will face a much tougher challenge, facing some dogs that are racing in a rare form which include Zipping Highland, Springvale Rex and Fantastic Dixie. Aston Arena will exit box two for the second heat of the series and will be looking to step cleanly and find an early position.
“It’s just an opportunity this race, it was either a grade 4 over the 530 or a grade 4 ‘600’, so I figured we would go ‘600’ and get two cracks at it or risk going into an Open which is probably what would have happened,” said Fagan
“She’s really reliant on being on the rail, she goes good from the inside. She’s a very good chaser and she’s from a good litter. Her sister is a group race winner, she’s more than handy for Adelaide that’s for sure.”
“I expect her to run a nice race, it’s not an easy field, it’s a quality field. If she can run a nice race then I will be happy with that.”
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They inform Bruce Mick Glenn will make his way back to Angle park, off the back of some excellent efforts at Murray Bridge, which include three wins and a second from his last four starts.
Last start he was able to topple Foreshadow with an all-the-way victory over the 455m trip at Murray Bridge, winning in a slick 25.73. It was this time last year that Bruce Mick Glenn ran a personal best of 30.44 at Angle Park and it will take a similar effort if he is going to challenge on Thursday.
It’s a red hot Open grade field over the 530m distance with the likes of Springvale Roxy, Molly Irish and Miss Scallywag all set to make for a competitive race and Bruce Mick Glenn’s trainer in Damien Smith is fully aware of the tough challenge that his four-year-old chaser faces on Thursday night.
“He’s had plenty of injuries that dog, he’s got pannus in the eyes which was a big problem so I’ve tried a few different things with him. He’s just feeling good and it’s all coming together at once. The straight probably did him good because he’s got sore wrists, he doesn’t get worked ever from run to run because you can’t work him otherwise he pulls up lame.” said Smith
“He’s always been a fast dog, he’s just had hock injuries, knee injuries, both wrists. He just does what he wants to at home now. The eyes are the main thing, now that they’ve cleared up because a lot of times he didn’t like dogs to the outside of him and even up the straight a couple of times he looked like he wanted to turn down but he didn’t.”
“I didn’t even want him in that race, to be honest! I originally thought he was a grade 5 but stuffed up and he’s a grade 4.”
Racing will start at 6:40 pm local time on Thursday
Best Bet: Discrepancy (Race 4, Number 4)
Value Bet: Follow Me Raja (Race 11, Number 4)