Lashes Monelli breathtaking in Premier’s Cup win
Lashes Monelli has arrived in South Australia and made a bang! Winning four out of her 6 starts since coming to the state. The March 19’ whelped bitch has shown outstanding chase in all of her starts here, coming from off the speed each time she has won.
It was a keen eye from trainer Tim Aloisi that ultimately led to her arrival in SA, with Tim having his eyes set on her from very early days.
“I was watching her in Western Australia, number one we liked her as a broadbitch because it’s a pretty good line. Seeing her early days hit the line over 500 and then 600, we thought she would run 700. Dave (Hobby) put her in a Galaxy heat and she won that which I wasn’t surprised. Over there she probably gets a bit too far back, so after watching her for a bit longer we decided to buy her.” Tim said
Last Friday, Lashes Monelli was able to claim the states premier staying event (The Premier’s Cup), after being sent out as a hot favourite, but Tim didn’t share that confidence.
“To be honest I’m never confident! I don’t care if I’ve got a $1.05 favourite, for me when they are expected to win there's a bit of pressure. In saying that, I was happy with where both of mine had drawn. I did think she should win, but it’s dog racing and anything can happen, ultimately I was just going to be happy to see her get around safe!”
The race played out well for Lashes, as she settled back but was able to get a clear run along the fence. Coming for home she stormed past her kennel mate (Run Like Jess), before landing a powerful victory. A win that brought a huge roar from the local crowd, with Tim Edwards calling it perfectly, “The crowd love it!”.
“It was actually surprising (the crowd), it was good to have a big crowd there. The roar kind of sent chills down my spine a little bit, we are used to winning and it being pretty quiet. It looks like she’s got a bit of a cult following! My mates are sending me videos from Tik Tok and stuff!”
The outstanding form that Lashes is in, will no doubt attract interest for the big races interstate, but Tim isn’t sold on heading for them.
‘Not sure (In regards to heading for the big races), we don’t really look that far ahead. I wouldn’t say we are surprised at what she has done, but it’s a bit early to work out how good she is, she has only been in my kennel for 6 weeks. When she came she had only won 5 from 40 starts. With the new Angle Park, it is hard to know how fast she is running. More than likely with her racing pattern, she will stay in Adelaide. If she got an invite somewhere then maybe, but no plans at this stage to send her elsewhere.”
Her kennel mate, Stout Monelli also looks set to stay in Adelaide and target the 600m races.
“He won’t be going to the Gawler cup, he pulled up pretty average after the Adelaide Cup heat run, it’s just an old injury. I gave him three weeks to get it right when he came here, and just pulled up ginger after the heat run. I won’t over race and if something isn’t right then I won’t push the dog. He will have 2-3 weeks off then come back. Long term plan is to get him over 600m and the intention was to race him over it when we got him. He will be staying in Adelaide as well, I don’t have any intention to send him elsewhere.”
Lashes Monelli looks set to continue her run of form as she will line up a red hot favourite this Thursday night at Angle Park.
