Price eyes Oaks success, Vic duo set for Derby Showdown
The Spring chasing carnival continues with a massive night of racing at Angle Park on Thursday with two Group 3 finals of the SA Oaks and SA Derby to be run.
The Group 3 South Australian Oaks will be the first of the two and it looks to be a wide-open affair on paper with an excellent mix of local chances and interstate chances.
Two heats were run last week and it was a Tasmanian that took out heat one with Wynburn Honey proving far too good for Ben Englund as she dominated her heat with a big 30.85 victory. It was a much improved second outing at Angle Park with the Tasmanian chaser in the care of Ryan Tugwell and Lauren Harris across the series.
Hear from Ryan Tugwell about Wynburn Honey on this week’s edition of The Dogcast here.
Heat two saw a local victory with Where’s Poppy getting it done in terrific fashion for Kirin Corby, leading all the way in 30.96.
Another local hope for trainer Nicole Price is Zipping Mahalia, who will be hoping for better luck than what she received in her heat last week, when she ran an eye-catching third behind Wynburn Honey. After going into the race with some excellent form, she was never out of trouble but continued to try and that run was pleasing for Price.
“Oh how upsetting! She ran alright but she just didn’t get a run,” Price said on Zipping Mahalia’s run.
“She totally screwed the start up. We haven’t had a good prep in and it’s still not the greatest prep in, we’re still having to stay pretty fresh on her which is not what you want to do.
“I think every dog hit her in the heat, she caught them so easily on the first bend that she just ran up their backsides. I think she thought there was a gap on the rail but that closed up. She was just very unlucky in the heat but it was good to see her keep going.”
The box draw has turned the race upside down with a couple of the fancies drawing awkwardly. Mepunga Surprise has come up with the coveted box one, whilst the kennel mate in Purified has drawn box three with both of those likely to be big improvers from the draws.
Zipping Mahalia has come up with a tricky box seven draw and will be looking for some early luck in the race.
“I think she’s come through quite well this week, better than I thought. I think she’s boxed nicely out there, I think my only concern is the eight (Where’s Poppy), because it jumps quickly so it might hinder me,” Price said about Zipping Mahalia’s draw.
“I hope it flies out and crosses me before I come out and then I can follow it around, that would be a nice plan! She (Zipping Mahalia) is a hard railer, it’s just that she doesn’t jump, she loves the rail.
“She’s definitely a box one dog, but you’ve seen her do it from box eight and be five wide. She’s quite smart for a young dog, so she will stay out wide if she has too. If she’s up close behind then I think she’s a big show.”
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The South Australian Derby looks set to be one of the greatest editions of the race with the race down to two main chances after a pair of impressive heat wins.
\Both of the heat winners last week were simply incredible, the Jilad Talgi-trained Schillaci made everyone stand up and take notice with a roaring 30.27 victory in the first heat on a terrible night weather-wise where all the times were significantly slower than expected with a wet track and stiff headwind in the home straight.
With many blown away from what they just saw in heat one, the Jeffrey Britton trained Mepunga Smokey tried to better the performance, with an all the way 30.32 victory.
Those monster performances have put those chasers clearly at the top of the betting market, with Schillaci set to start the favourite after drawing perfectly with box one in the final and Mepunga Smokey drawing wide with box seven.
Schillaci and Mepunga Smokey are arguably two of the best chasers that have come over for this race in recent years with Schillachi having shown plenty of ability through the provincial circuit in Victoria and Sandown Park and also produced an impressive trial at Angle Park.
Mepunga Smokey’s last run before he came over was a 29.67 victory at The Meadows, which is simply sensational and also added a 29.29 in the Speed Star match race series at Sandown.
Whilst it will be a battle of the titans at the top, there is plenty of South Australian representation in the race with Kiah Hurley getting two runners (In The Bug & Lochinvar Milan) through to the final and Don Turner also having a representative in the form of Who Knows Reg.
It promises to be an epic race and will certainly have the eyes of punters around the country tuned right in.
The Oaks will jump at 8:28pm, The Derby will jump at 9:13pm and racing will begin at 6:37pm on a terrific evening.
Best Bet: Dash Of Blue (Race 3, Number 2)
Value Bet: Fantastic Dixie (Race 9, Number 1)