Peckham Hopeful Ahead Of Leigh Rogers Heats
Peckham Hopeful Ahead Of Leigh Rogers Heats
Six heats of the Leigh Rogers will be run this Thursday night at Angle Park, with the annual Grade 6 feature event attracting strong nominations for this year.
Traditionally a hotly contested series given the prize money associated with it and this year looks no different. With six heats being run, it will mean that chasers will need to win their heat to make the final or be in the top two quickest seconds.
Previous winners of the race include Unholy Reign (2023), Victa Damien (2022), Don’t Tell Lies (2021) and Fly For Trix (2020).
Dave Peckham will be making the long drive up from Mount Gambier on Thursday as he brings three chasers into the heats.
The homebred Bourne Model looks the best of Peckham’s chances and she will step out from box one in the third heat of the series. She has done all of her racing at Angle Park recently which has prepared her well for the series and she comes into the race off the back of a slick 342m win two weeks ago, where she ran a good 19.64 from the inside.
“I was a bit surprised that she didn’t put a bit more of a margin on them. We’ve had the K-9 Coronavirus in the kennel so that was her first run back, so she might be a bit underdone. She had three weeks of not doing much and to resume I thought rather than trial them I would put them in a 300m race so that was at Angle Park.” said Peckham
The black bitch has always shown good ability and debuted in the John Reid Memorial Series down at Mount Gambier over the 512m trip, where she ran an unlucky second in the heat, but got it all right to win the final in a very handy 29.88. Back in August, she also took out the Winter Classic at Mount Gambier in 29.91.
“She’s shown a bit of ability and goes alright. She won the Winter Classic and beat Apilla in that series.” said Peckham
Thursday night’s task for Bourne Model has been made much easier by the fact she has drawn box one and with her early speed she looks a chance to land close to the speed early and if she can do that then she will certainly be a chance in the race, which does look quite even.
“I’ve just trained her up in the runs at home and kept her on her toes ready to go for tomorrow (Thursday) night. She’s probably got to lead and get out with a bit of a break, because I think she will be feeling it at the end a bit.” said Peckham
“I am pretty pleased that she has come up with the red, but whether she is ready for a ‘500’ yet is going to be my concern.”
Peckham will also bring Stevie’s Girl to the series, with the brindle bitch set to step out in heat five of the series. She has been racing well since joining Peckham’s kennel earlier this year and also comes here fresh off a 342m win two weeks ago, where she ran a tidy 19.68 from box one.
It is a strong heat that she has found herself in and she will be exiting box three. If she is to win then she will need to avoid the early pressure drawn to her outside and find the front, with Peckham conceding that she is up against it.
“I reckon she’s going to struggle with the 530. She’s probably got to lead and get well out in front and probably a bit of trouble behind her to hold on I recon.” said Peckham
Bourne Franky will round out the Peckham trio for the series, with the black dog stepping out in heat one of the series. With a handy last start effort which saw him win from box eight over the 342m trip here, he will be looking to continue the good start he has made to his career when he lines up from box seven in his heat. Peckham believes that he is likely to have a tough time trying to beat the likely favourite in Darcy Dakota.
“He probably can't beat Darcy Dakota I don’t think, he’s just in there because he’s a Grade 6 and can run for the ‘500’ so I just put him in there and thought why not.
It promises to be a good night of racing and will get underway at 6:35pm local time.