Peckham Seeking Straight Track Success
The National Straight Track SA divisional final will be a cracker, with a red hot field lined up for the race on Tuesday at Murray Bridge.
Two heats were run last Tuesday with the first heat going the way of the Tim Richards trained He’s On Fire who took out this race last year. It was an emphatic performance from the renowned fast beginner, as he fired out of the boxes and set up the win with a big lead early. While the challengers stormed home late, He’s On Fire was able to hold on winning by a whisker in 19.21.
The second heat went to the Dave Peckham trained Aston Olenna, who completed an outstanding return to the racetrack following a two-month spell. The fawn dog has been a star of the straight for a long period of time, but his effort to win was one of his best ones yet. He was led early by Cash On Delivery but had lots of room to work with and just kept grinding away in second place, before eventually proving too strong and winning in 19.05, which was the faster of the two heats.
Trainer Dave Peckham is certainly no stranger to racing at the straight track and he has qualified two for the final with Aston Ziebell and Aston Olenna both going into the race as big chances.
Aston Ziebell went into his heat off the back of two flying Mount Gambier victories, but his heat run was essentially over when he received multiple checks early in the run. Despite this, he picked himself up and ran home for a very brave third, running 19.33.
“I expected him to go a bit better but he did get sandwiched and knocked around a bit.” Peckham said on Aston Ziebell’s heat run.
“Hopefully he can go a bit better but he has the same draw again with box four.”
Peckham was in full praise of the effort by Aston Olenna to win his heat, given the time off and lack of preparation that he was able to give him.
“He was scratched from the Murray Bridge Straight Cup final because he was sore in his left front leg and that was an elbow issue that had him off for a bit of time.” Peckham said on Aston Olenna.
“Back on the 26th of June, he had a growth on his ear so we got that vet checked because we thought it might be cancerous, so they wanted to remove that and biopsy it, so he’s lost the tip of his ear now because they wanted to have a safe margin around it.”
Racing against a warm favourite in Cash On Delivery, Aston Olenna was a late drifter in the betting which took Peckham by surprise!
“Yeah it did (surprise me), when I was walking to the boxes they said he had gone from $4 to $8 and I thought he probably has never been $8 in his life,” Peckham said.
“He hadn’t really done anything (before that), he was underdone and I didn’t think he was ready to be winning, so it was a big surprise. I am just in awe of the dog, I didn’t think he was ready to be that seriously competitive yet, hopefully he hasn’t run his race a week early.”
The box draw has certainly made the right quite interesting, with Peckham’s pair drawing fairly for the race. Aston Ziebell has come up with box four, whilst Aston Olenna has drawn a suitable box seven. The key to the race will be clear running and that is what Peckham will be hoping for with his two chances.
“Obviously you’ve got to consider that Cash On Delivery has got the same draw that it won the Murray Bridge Straight Cup from,” Peckham said.
“(Aston) Olenna is drawn very well there in seven, so those two will probably stay out there and not trouble one another.”
Peckham rates Aston Olenna as the better of his two chances but believes that Aston Ziebell could win too with the right run.
“Just on the heat run and he’s drawn well in the seven, he’s (Aston Olenna) obviously shown that he’s still got a bit of go about him, the way he’s run 19.05 in the heat but you can’t dismiss (Aston) Ziebell if he gets a clear run either.”