Newman Hoping To Repeat Mount Gambier Cup Glory
Heats of the Group 3 Mount Gambier Cup will take place this Sunday and last year's winning Mount Gambier Cup trainer in Jason Newman will be taking a three-pronged attack to this year's series, attempting to again win his way through to the final next week.
Seven heats of the cup will be run, with a strong mix of locally trained chasers, interstate runners and Adelaide based runners all making their way down to the ‘Mount’.
Departure Gate for Jason took out last year’s series with a faultless display as he won from box six and defeated a strong field in 29.42.
It is shaping as a fascinating edition this year and it is arguably one of the toughest cups that the club has seen, with some fast and in-form chasers set to line up. Quality types such as Yahiro Bale, Wharfie, Aston Ziebell, Titan Blazer, Springvale Roxy, Lektra Rhino will certainly make their presence felt as the top seeds of the series.
Ben Rawlings will also be aiming to be the first person to claim the trainer and greyhound Murray Bridge/Mount Gambier Cup double, with this year’s Murray Bridge Cup winner in Panorama to line up from box six in the second heat.
Jason understands the strength of this year's series and will be hoping for a bit of luck with his three runners on Sunday. He gave his thoughts on his three hopes.
Wind Burn Flash - Race 7, Number 5 (Heat 3)
“She’s coming back from a sprung toe, she’s probably two runs off where I would like her to be, but I think she’s a real middle distance dog, she will be better over 600. Needs a lot of luck in that heat, there's some that are pretty quick in that heat. She needs to lead and I don’t see her leading.” said Jason
Velocity Lotus - Race 8, Number 4 (Heat 4)
“She’s my best chance by far, she’s a dog that was really stagnant for me, just running 29.90s and 29.80s and then a couple of weeks ago was the first time she started taking time off. She ran 29.69 and followed that up the week later with a 29.59 and that’s a time you can win the cup with. I actually think she prefers the middle of the track too so I don’t mind that race for her, and I think she can lead it.”
“She tends to jump better from the middle.”
Not So Expensive - Race 10, Number 3 (Heat 6)
“She was a last minute throw-in, very tough heat and she’s a young dog. We thought we would test her a bit and see what she can do. She’s got some talent, the day she ran 29.75 she really missed the start so I suspect she’s a lot better than that. Last week she was good, she just ran into one and looked good, she ran 29.80 getting held up a bit. She needs to sharpen her first bit up. She’s going to run 29.80 if she gets clear air, so I thought if there's a pile up and she gets through cleanly then she can win.”
Given the strength of the series, Jason found it hard to pick a series favourite, instead suggesting that quite a few have a good chance to win it all.
“I think they are Victorian class fields, they are amazing heats and it’s a big bolster for the club.” said Jason
“I thought Yahiro Bale had a really good heat for it, I thought that was the weakest heat and that’s it built for it to win. Aston Ziebell will be tough to beat. The dog Wharfie, if he gets through he can really run, he could be a real handful. He got beat the other day at Sandown but it took a 29.12 run to beat him!”
“Out of the locals, there's (Aston) Ziebell and Sister Roberta who went way better than I thought she would go, she stunned me on the weekend, she’s improved out of sight”
“I tell you who is one not to sleep on and might throw a bit of value is Max Power, you should look at the replay of his loss the other day, it was miles back and just got beat, it can run! Watch the run it was crazy, it was a huge run, I can’t believe what it did.”
Away from the cup heats on Sunday, three heats of the 400m Open Series will be run, with some fast animals set to strut their stuff. The final will be run on cup day next week and Jason’s partner Melissa Freitag has the one runner engaged in those heats with Nitrogen Outlaw.
Nitrogen Outlaw has proven a revelation in recent weeks, running some unbelievable times which included back to back victories with times of 22.75 and 22.76, which is as fast they go over the 400m distance.
“He (Nitrogen Outlaw) either leads or he doesn’t win, that’s the story with him, when he leads he’s unbeatable, but his last two haven’t been great. He wants the rail, if he leads he runs 22.70 but if he doesn’t lead he just sits behind them. I don’t think there's too much speed around him and I think he can cross from box five, so it should be okay. He’s got to get out though.” said Jason
The racing will start at 12:00 pm local time on Sunday and will certainly be worth watching with the quality of dogs engaged in the meeting.