Long Haul Eyeing Off Fitting Ending To A Stellar Journey
Long Haul Eyeing Off Fitting Ending To A Stellar Journey
One of the main features held at the Murray Bridge circuit is The Murray Bridge Sprint Classic and this year it has drawn a highly talented field for the $7,000 to the winner final.
Held over the 395m distance, speed is always crucial and all eight of the finalists will be looking to emulate the deeds of Carry On Jack, who won the race last year for Jason Dolan, with a blistering 22.15 effort.
Four highly competitive heats were run last week, with the winners being Long Haul (22.21), Royal Nangar (22.42), Son Of Maple (22.52) and Darcy Dakota (22.29).
Long Haul, who is trained by the Two Wells based Kiah Hurley, carried a strong and consistent level of form into the heat last Sunday. The win on Sunday was his fourth straight as he has proven nearly unbeatable at the one-turn circuit in recent times, but this Sunday, if he is to win, will be his last, with Hurley and his owner Nick Lalli deciding to retire the son of Aussie Infrared.
“That forms come out of nowhere! But we’ve actually decided to retire him after Sunday night. He’s over four now, I don’t want to push him, he’s got nothing to prove to me or his owner (Nick Lalli). He’s just been a good dog, I can’t fault him in any way!” Hurley exclaimed
“I don’t want to push him anymore, he was sore in October. We’ve never really pushed him, we don’t push any of our dogs hard. He’s had problems, he gets a bit on the stressy side, at the minute that’s what he’s doing now. He’s doing great and going great guns, but just at the moment he doesn’t want to go in the kennel house or go up the ramp, he’s winning but just the other bits and pieces he doesn’t love doing now. We’ve been talking about it for four or five weeks. He will definitely retire after Sunday, he’s had 36 starts for me for 6 unplaced, I can’t fault him at all. The unplaced runs were all because he’s been bumped around or galloped on.”
It was a terrific effort from Long Haul last week when winning his heat in a best of the night 22.21. From box eight, he took a couple of strides to muster up and settled deep on the track, but continued to surge into the turn. At the top of the straight it was still anyone's race, but his strength and class proved far too much for the others as he powered on to the lead, before winning.
“Last week’s win really amazed me, he did it hard and I didn’t think he was going to get their, but he showed what he can do.”
The white and fawn dog has drawn box four for his final ever race on Sunday, a draw he is no stranger to, having won 5 of his 11 starts from it, but he will once again need to bring his best to the final, with plenty of early speed engaged in the race. Hurley would have liked him to draw wider, but is optimistic that with a good beginning he can settle close enough.
“I would have liked to be in box eight, but he’s won from box four a few times. It all depends on what happens around him and if he can get room to move. If he gets room and jumps reasonably then he might be there. It’s up to him on the day. If he wins then that would just be a dream and it would be nice to see him go out with a win.” said Hurley
Whelped back in November 2020, Long Haul has clearly been the pick of the Aussie Infrared x Subconscious litter, having raced 88 times for 25 victories and over $93,000 in prize money. After Sunday night, he will enjoy the life of luxury at the Hurley family home.
“He’s a chill dog, he’s a stress head at the track, but at home he just goes on the walker and goes for a gallop, you don’t know he’s there.”
“He’s staying with me. He was my first city winner in Melbourne and he won the Broken Hill Cup for us, he’s done enough.”
It will be a terrific evening of racing at Murray Bridge on Sunday, with the first race set to run at 5:31pm and the Sprint Final slated for a 7:52pm start.