Historic night ahead at Angle Park
This Friday night at Angle Park will mark an historic occasion for the premier Greyhound Racing track in South Australia, as it will be celebrating 50 years since the opening of the circuit, which is just a short drive from the Adelaide CBD. Only recently the track experienced a huge redevelopment which has been able to create one of the best tracks in the country for both racing and spectating.
Off the track there will be a stack going on with an enormous atmosphere and crowd expected to be on show. The racing itself will be electric with a terrific support card surrounding the nights features, which are the $50,000 to the winner Anniversary Cup over the 530m trip and the SA Distance Final over the 730m trip.
The Anniversary Cup field has plenty of SA flavour which is fantastic to see, with just the 1 Victorian dog (Auspicious Queen) scraping through into the field. The heats which were run last Thursday were absolutely sensational, with some outstanding racing being displayed. Kinrock Star’s effort had to be seen to be believed in the first heat, as he gave Fantastic Victor no less than an 8 length head start, before nailing him late.
Photo: Kinrock Star with Connor Murray after winning the 50th Anniversary first heat
Credit: Kurt Donsberg Photography
Only the week before had Fantastic Victor won the SA Eastar Match Races. Ben Rawlings was able to have Threaten produce a near career best effort at the ripe old age of four, to lead and win his heat in a slick 30.48.
Photo: That's some quality H2O. Ben Rawings gives Threaten a well-deserved drink post-race
Credit: Kurt Donsberg Photography
The third heat went to Mallee Magic for Tony Rasmussen, who clocked the fastest time of the three heats, with an electric 30.22. This dog has always shown a stack of ability but a few injuries have prevented him from consistent racing. The box draw has opened the race right up and will give most dogs their chance if they are good enough, for me I will stick with Fantastic Victor, with the expectation that he steps better than last week and takes plenty of running down, particularly in the full field.
The other feature of the night is the SA Distance final worth $10,000 to the winner. With just the two heats being run last week, a lot of the dogs are re-opposing. Weblec Star was the quickest winner, finding the arm and running 42.97 which is nice going. Victa Hadyn won the other heat in 43.14, which was his first run over the longer journey for four months, suggesting their is improvement ahead for him. Lashes Monelli will be my tip for the big final, after a flashing lights run last week. Go back a few months ago and she was unbeatable over this trip, and her fourth up effort last week showed glimpses of that level of form. It will be a terrific race!
With a good mix of races on throughout the night, there is plenty to keep the punters interested
Best bets for the night for me are:
DON’T TELL BLUEY (Race 5, Box #3) - Lauren Harris has got this dog humming and he was enormous in an Anniversary Cup heat last week. Has come up with the box draw to win this, with the dog inside wanting the fence and the dog outside wanting to get wide. Gets every chance to land near the front and he’s the quickest dog in the race.
LALA HIBISCUS (Race 12, Box #1) - Hopefully sending the punters home a winner, she’s been very good lately and hasn’t had a heap of luck in her 530m runs. Think this map sets up well, she can land behind the dog in box #2, and with wide runners drawn further up the track, she should get some room to get through the first turn. If she’s on the heels of the #2 dog up the back then she will be going straight past.
It’s going to be an absolute cracker of a night with plenty to see and do! A night that all racing fans won’t want to miss, with the first race getting underway at 6:35pm.