Springvale Bray drawn to pounce on mixed series decider
An excellent card has been assembled for this Thursday at Angle Park, with 12 strong races drawn.
One of the highlights for the night will be the final of the 530m mixed 5/6 Murray Bridge to Angle Park series with two very competitive heats being held on Sunday night at Murray Bridge. The two winners from the heats were the Gavin Harris trained Dashing Deb and the Michael Giniotis trained Springvale Bray.
Springvale Bray has been simply sensational in recent times, making his mark as one of the state's stronger chasers. His heat win at Murray Bridge was emphatic, stepping smartly from a wide draw before proving far too strong and winning in a very fast 29.85, with that time pleasing Giniotis.
“He did surprise me with how hard he did try to get across before he eventually got into second place around the turn and from that point on it would have taken a strong dog to beat him, so he did everything right and won comfortably,” Giniotis said.
It was by a case of bad luck that has led Springvale Bray to this series with the dog injuring himself on the morning of the Bayroad Queen Final last month, with a decision being made to target races over the shorter distances.
“He sprung a toe on the morning of the Bayroad Queen Stayers final and it sort of flared up a bit, so I had to freshen him up and give it some time to settle,” Giniotis said.
“So he had a few weeks off. I thought that being consistent with my theory of placing them at the lowest end, I decided to go back to basically 500m races for a while and pick up all the grade fives that I can everywhere.”
“I took him for a 455m race there (Murray Bridge) and he ran a nice second from the outside box. He does want the fence and he got beaten a neck in 25.60 which was a pretty good run.”
Springvale Bray has come up with a suitable box one draw on Thursday night and he will be looking to make the most of it.
“Box one at Angle Park is ideal, but he’s not as tractable as (Springvale) Dave has been, the brother. He gets every chance and he’s racing against pretty much the same dogs he raced the other night and he’s better drawn,” Giniotis said.
“He’s not a real demon, he doesn’t push that hard so if spots don’t open for him, he can potentially run up asses. He’s strong and does want the fence, if he can be in the first four and not get baulked for a run, then he should be too good for them.”
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Also on Thursday night will be two heats of an Open Maiden Series, with these races generally bringing out a good dog or two.
The training duo of Lauren Harris and Ryan Tugwell will have some representation in the heats with one of these being a kennel debutant in the form of Sinner, who will return from a three month spell after having three previous starts in Victoria to start his career.
Previously trained by Justin Illman in Victoria, the Superior Panama x Bobby Soxer whelping will be looking to make it a winning start to his South Australian journey.
After some unlucky starts, Sinner was sent to Harris and Tugwell in the hope of regaining some confidence.
“Justin Illman, who is a good friend of ours in Victoria, he is one of the owners. They gave them three starts in Victoria and he got bashed around a bit, we used to train the mum Bobby Soxer, so he just decided with his syndicate that he would send him over and try to get a bit of confidence with the dog,” Tugwell said.
Prior to this Thursday night, Sinner has had a couple of looks around Angle Par with the duo confident that he will improve from his first-up run.
“He’s settled in fine, he’s a nice-looking dog, real leggy type, he’s had a couple of looks at Angle Park. He’s handled the track okay and whatever he does he will improve on.” Tugwell said.
The box draw has helped Sinner having drawn box one, which is always advantageous in maiden races and the team are hoping he can use the good draw well.
“Asl ong as he comes out with them, as a rule I don’t think he’s a lid pinger, but he’s been jumping okay,” Harris said.
“He likes it on the rail so he’s well boxed in that instance, he can sit on the rail.”
Racing will start at 6:37pm local time.
Best Bet: Doonan (Race 8, Number 4)
Value Bet: Pink Confetti (Race 10, Number 2)