Star Studded Howard Ashton Heats The Showpiece This Thursday
The Group 3 Howard Ashton series will commence this Thursday night at Angle Park, with the lucrative series open to South Australian-bred chasers whelped between January and June 2021.
Thursday night will see three heats run, before two semi-finals next week and the final the week after.
The series always produces a good final and this year should be no different, with some of the high-quality Tony Rasmussen runners set to make their presence felt. Arguably Australia’s fastest dog in Victa Damian will go into the series as a long odds-on favourite to take it out, with his campaign to commence from box seven in the second heat.
Prominent South Australia owner/breeder/trainer Gavin Harris will have a two-pronged attack for the series, with Baez Jinx and Boom Boom Jinx to carry his hopes.
For some time now there has been plenty of hype on Boom Boom Jinx, however, he has been unable to live up to that hype so far in his racing. Since returning from two months, Boom Boom Jinx has been luckless in his races and unable to show what he can do, but Harris will be hoping that will change on Thursday when he exits box four in the third and last heat.
“He’s raced a couple of times since he had a break, he had metacarpal soreness and things like that, little niggling injuries,” said Harris
“His form in races has been terrible, but he did get me a 30.51 trial at Angle Park back a few weeks ago, but he's drawn wide all the time and I think he needs the rail cheaply. Last time he got taken off the corner on the first turn and finished 20 lengths of the pace. He’s not a bad dog.”
“He needs the fence and he’s got box four. He’s a good dog, he’s capable and if he gets a clean run then he could run 30.50 or better or type thing. He’s running up the Murray Bridge slipping track in fast times, like faster than Springvale Maddi and dogs like that.
“The main thing is to get through to the Semis next week.”
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Bronwyn Welsh has got her kennel in full flight at the moment and she will make another venture from Mildura when she brings Rustic Kruger and Kruger Lass to the track on Thursday.
Rustic Kruger has only had three career starts thus far, however, the son of Hooked On Scotch has already shown plenty of ability, with his last two runs at Gawler producing two fast victories.
Early speed is not his best asset, but mid-race pace and field smarts have been simply excellent thus far, particularly from a chaser only starting his career.
Coming to the city for the first time won’t be easy and with box seven to deal with, he will certainly have to be at his best if he is to get the job done.
“We bred him ourselves, it’s the very first litter we bred. We had a nice little bitch we raced and put her to Hooked On Scotch and bred our litter through John Katakasi. We got four pups and right from go he was a little plain, but he always had that look about him. When we sent him to get broken in, they straight away in the first week said "You've got a pretty good pup here.” said Welsh
“We’ve held him back because he’s had a couple of little niggling injuries, so he’s a late starter. Those two starts (at Gawler) give you a little idea of what he’s got, he just puts so much into his runs that he’s forever doing little niggly things.”
“Our distance is our worst enemy because we can’t get down and trial a lot, Angle Park Thursday night, he’s going in green as he’s never seen the track and it’s his first start over 530, which is a lot to ask a young pup, but with what he showed us at Gawler, we’ve got to step him up and see if he can a run strong ‘500’.”
“That six-dog field, I am hoping he can do the right thing.”
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Kirin Corby will unveil the first starter, from this fabulous Sennachie x Fabwik litter that is on the ground. Where’s Poppy will step out from box four for her debut, with the June 21’ whelping finding a suitable field for her debut.
Fabwik was a fantastic chaser, who won 27 races and over $100,000 in prize money, whilst also making an Adelaide Cup final. The home-bred Sennachie was a star himself, winning 18 races and nearly $700,000 in prize money.
It’s a breeding combination that is very close to Corby, having part-owned Sennachie, whilst breeding and owning Fabwik.
It’s not easy to win on debut, but Where’s Poppy has certainly got all the right credentials to do so.
“She’s been ready, but just hasn’t got a start,” said Corby
“She’s been doing okay, they all had their first ‘500’ and did about the same, so I just put the fastest one in with the best splits. She (Where’s Poppy) has had two more ‘500s’ now. She can get to 30.70”
“Usually she has early speed, but you never know what’s going to happen in a maiden race!”
Best Bet: Bedrock Will (Race 10, Number 4)
Value Bet: Air Grace (Race 11, Number 4)