Foster's straight double as Bridge Cup draws closer
Tuesday Meeting
It was another picture of a day for our straight track meeting this week and it was thoroughly enjoyed by two trainers in particular, who both trained doubles. Tania Foster had two of her young team get up in nice fashion, with the first being Lyla Mclaren, who won from box four over the 350m trip. It was a gutsy victory, with the black bitch finding plenty of early trouble and getting bumped around significantly. After bustling her way to the lead midrace, she cleared away late and won in 20.17. In the next race, it was Little Miss Hugs who won over the same distance, thanks to a bold front running display. The fawn bitch came out beautifully from the boxes to find a big early lead halfway up the straight and looked in complete control at that point. Towards the end of the race, she had drifted up the track and was starting to get tired, with the closers charging home, but she had just done enough and held on in a three way finish, winning in 19.73 by an absolute pimple.
Brenda Oakey was the other trainer to score two winners for the day, with the first being Happy Sky, who got the job done in a heat of the grade 6 series over 300m. From box seven, she came out well but then copped a bump, which caused her to lose a bit of momentum. Despite this, she pushed on and eventually worked over to the lead. Once in front, she started to draw away and won in a quick 16.81, which was quite impressive given that she didn’t have a completely clear run. Brenda’s other winner, Diligent, also took out a heat of the same grade 6 series and overcame a tricky box six in the process. The brindle bitch came out very well and despite a small nudge early, she skipped to the early lead. Out in front, she never looked in any danger and strolled home for a terrific 16.83 win.
Friday Meeting
There was an even spread of winners for the Friday meeting on the one-turn track, but we saw a couple of impressive victories in the meeting. One of those was the Mount Gambier based Victor Alfred for the Bartholomew team, who scored a deserving return victory, following an unlucky run the week before when he was first up four months. Coming out of box three over the 395m trip, he started a clear favourite and when he nearly worked his way to the early lead, his backers would have been quite happy with themselves, but after getting some pressure to his outside, he suddenly lost a few lengths and looked in a lot of trouble. At the top of the straight, he found himself with plenty of clear air and started to charge again late, before storming right over the top and winning super impressively in 22.80. He’s a dog that’s always had plenty of ability but has clearly had some injury problems, so hopefully he can have a sustained preparation this time around!
Arguably the most impressive win on the day was that of another Mount Gambier visitor, this being the Dave Peckham trained Federal Flash, who won in cracking style over the 455m trip. Starting a raging hot favourite from box two, he came out quickly to go straight to an early lead. Heading into the turn, he had the race essentially over with a massive lead and was doing things well. In the end, it was a commanding 5 length victory in a very quick 25.53, a time which would have him around the mark for the upcoming Murray Bridge Cup!
Another good week of racing all round at The Bridge!