Springvale Maddi looking to continue her fantastic form
A quality night of racing awaits at Angle Park on Thursday, with two heats of the South Australian Distance Championships and three heats of the South Australian Anniversary Cup to be run.
With three compact but competitive fields drawn for the Anniversary Cup, the series appears to be quite open. The top two from each heat and the two fastest thirds will make their way through to the lucrative final next week.
The talented and classy Springvale Maddi will be looking to continue her fabulous return to racing when she lines up from box seven in the second heat of the series.
Springvale Maddi has had just four runs since returning from an injury-enforced, four-month spell, with her first up run in a heat of the Mount Gambier Cup suggesting that she wasn’t far away from her best. Since then, she has continued to improve each start, which showed with a fantastic display of speed and strength last week when she led all the way at Angle Park in a fast 30.45.
Her trainer, Gavin Harris has been pleased with her form since returning and is hopeful that she can repeat last week's effort again this Thursday.
“She cracked her scapula when she fell at Angle Park in that race.” said Gavin
“She showed some signs on her first run back at the Mount Gambier Cup, she was making ground on Titan Blazer who went on to the Mount Gambier Cup after that heat. The following week, they dropped weight when I traveled with them for the third time. It looks like she’s come back good.”
“On Sunday, I gave her a ‘275’ (at Angle Park) and Dashing Wilma actually holds that record, she twice went 15.79, and (Springvale) Maddi went 15.76, so she’s the new unofficial record holder! I said to the guys I will be lobbying for 275m races!”
“It’s a tough race and I know she did well out of box seven last week, she’s gotta get across and you know how hard it is to get across sometimes. If she runs like she did last week then she would get across but they don’t always back up. I’m hopeful for her for sure.
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Clint Trengove will take a two-pronged attack in the Distance Championships, with Dashing Jinx and Bedrock Will to aim for glory, with both chasers drawing well with box one.
Dashing Jinx has seemingly found some strong form and only two runs ago he shocked a few punters when he led all the way in a flying 42.82 at Angle Park.
A luckless run last start meant he didn’t repeat that effort, but with box one on Thursday, he will be looking to jump well and find the front.
The fast run two starts ago didn’t come as a huge shock for Clint, who has been trying different things to see what works best for the brindle dog.
“I kept tinkering with him to try and work out the best system for him, because they’re all different.” said Clint
“Last start he hadn’t raced for about a week and a half so he missed a 700m run, he’s one of those dogs that if he can lead and get on the lure, he doesn’t run as wide. Last week, Lucas said that the seven dog was just smashing into him flat out.”
“It should be alright if he can lead, if he gets pressured early then he will soon suck back through the field, he’s got a mind of his own, he’s probably too clever really.”
The other chance for Clint is Bedrock Will, who has only had one start since joining the kennel a few months ago.
It was a terrific first-up run from Bedrock Will, who won over the 595m distance last week and beat a handy field. On that occasion, he used box one and railed through before leading all the way in a very handy 34.43.
The task on Thursday appears to be much harder for Bedrock Will, which Clint is aware of, but regardless of Thursday night's run, the future looks promising for the chaser.
It was a touch of opportunity and luck that saw Clint get his hands on Bedrock Will, having been offered to him as a giveaway on Greyhound Of The Year night.
“I wasn’t going to take any more dogs because I’m trying to cut back, but on Greyhound Of The Year night, Mrs. Barber came up to me and asked if I would take him to keep, I was probably ready to say no, then something in my mind clicked and the last dog on Greyhound Of The Year night that I took was Victa Jess, and because they are new people that I haven’t taken a dog from before, I thought I will give it a crack.”
“He just seemed to lack a bit of confidence, when I first put him on the walking machine, the other dogs were licking him and he had his head down that low, it was a bit weird, but then within a few days he had a happy tail. It’s just one of those things that a change of environment can help.”
Clint was pleasantly surprised with his performance over the 595m, ‘I only gave him a box-to-box and two trials and put him in’ and admits tomorrow night's step up in journey looms as a tough test for him.
“Springvale Rex is on the outside of him and he’s just going to keep pestering him.”
Racing will start at 6:40pm local time on Thursday night.
Best Bet: Kruger Lass (Race 1, Number 3)
Value Bet: Federal Outlaw (Race 5, Number 4)