Kisses For Amy aiming for new heights!
Kisses For Amy Aiming High
Night two of the Group 3 Howard Ashton series will get underway at Angle Park tonight, with three semi-finals being drawn.
Last week's heats were strong with the winners being Yoda Lady (30.60), Spontaneous (30.70), Jukebox Duke (30.90, Zinfandel Evie (30.67), Kisses For Amy (30.94) and Dayne’s Calais (31.06).
With three semi-finals this week, it will mean that the top two from each race will go through to the lucrative final next week, whilst the two fastest thirds will also progress through to lucrative Group 3 final. It’s going to be a hotly contested trio of races with quality spread throughout the fields.
The Penny Sargent trained Kisses For Amy will be one of those hoping to secure a berth in the final next week, with the rising daughter of Tommy Shelby and Kisses For Chloe, seeking to continue her terrific form and repeat the dose from her heat win last week.
It was a good performance 30kg black bitch, who used her strength and track smarts to advantage, overcoming a couple of minor traffic problems during the run, before winning by a length and a half in 30.94. The race was also her first for three weeks with Sargent wrapping her youngstar in cotton wool for the lead up to the series.
“We were keeping her wrapped up so she didn’t get injured a couple of weeks before the heats. We didn't want anything to happen to her. So we were pretty happy with her run, she had only been out of box three once, but she got the win, so that was good.” Sargent said.
“We were pretty confident, we thought her time was a bit slow because she has trialled there in 30.68. She’s really strong coming home, so even though she was running third most of the way, once she got around the bend we figured she would take off and run everyone down, which she did.
Kisses For Amy, who is affectionately known at home as ‘Cindy’, holds a special place for Sargent, with the chaser named after her daughter, Amy, who enjoys watching her race and will no doubt be cheering her on Thursday night.
“She’s actually named Amy after my daughter, and my daughter watches all the races and she said to me that she (Kisses For Amy) just wants to win.” said Sargent
“She’s (Kisses For Amy) is the perfect kennel dog. She doesn’t mess or anything in the kennel and she’s quiet, she goes to bed when she’s meant to and doesn’t bark. She gets walked morning and night for 20 minutes, every day. If we don’t walk her, we take her to Virginia for a run up and back chasing the car. Or we take her to Angle Park to the straight track there. We actually took her there the day before and she ran up and back three times with the toy we give her, so we’re pretty happy with that one.”
Box five is what awaits Kisses For Amy on Thursday and she will be looking to repeat her first split of 5.27 which she ran last week and attempt to cross the inside, which would allow her to use her strength late. This is the scenario that Sargent is optimistic may occur, as she and her husband John, look to chase success for the first time in the Howard Ashton series.
“She hasn’t had box five before, it will be her first run out of box five, but she has won out of every other box except for box seven where she has only had one run. We are pretty confident because she doesn’t really care what box she is in, she just likes to push her way through and get to the front. We are confident but Zinfandel Evie is the one to watch out for, she’s won from box eight before as well. Cindy (Kisses For Amy) does like to get out and move over to the rail as well, so if she can get out quick, then I think she can do it. She will be strong on the way home, even if she doesn’t get out of the boxes first, as long as she doesn’t get checked and pushed to the back. Said Sargent
“This is the first time that we’ve actually had a dog that can run the 500 and be quick enough. She has run some good times, she's had four wins out of five at Angle Park.”
Racing gets underway at 6:31pm
Best Bets:
Southern Sun (Race 5, Number 4)
Ferocious Ivy (Race 9, Number 4)