Tommy Shelby Brilliant in Hobart 1000 Heat
Western Australian superstar Tommy Shelby will be aiming to add a maiden Group 1 success to his overflowing resume when he contests the Ladbrokes Hobart Thousand Final next Thursday night.
The son of Fernando Bale and Serena Fly High was simply breathtaking in qualifying for the $75,000 to-the-winner classic, having sizzled around Ladbrokes Park in running 25.45 seconds while keeping Run And Carry and Savage Victor at bay to score a 6-1/4 length margin jumping from box four.
The run was just one-hundredth of a second outside the 25.44 track record held by Stanley Gordon.
Tommy Shelby notched up his 22nd career victory on his way to the finish line from 33 appearances.
Post-race trainer Steve Withers said he couldn’t be happier with his heat win, knowing full well the field his star greyhound will face in next week’s final certainly brings great class and top local quality.
“Tommy Shelby is such a professional chaser, my job is to keep him sound and happy,” Steve said.
“This Hobart Thousand final will definitely be a sensational race and the local dogs in the field are strong with the home track advantage. On face value I think we need a clear run within the first 20 metres allowing him to find his rhythm, hopefully to get up on the speed and he should do the rest.”
The syndicate behind Tommy Shelby have done wonders to help promote the greyhound industry throughout his career with donations of prizemoney going to selected charities.
Reigning Group 3 Ladbrokes Devonport Chase winner Wynburn Sheean pulled out all stops to land the opening heat on Thursday night winning in brilliant fashion for proud trainer Ben Englund.
The son of Aston Dee Bee and She’s All Class was fair into stride from box eight before showing great speed to power across the face of the field, coming away to an eight-length victory recording 25.82.
Wynburn Sheean accounted for Western Creek and Lily Lola to bring up his 11th career race victory.
Wynyard based trainer Ben Englund was relieved to see his brilliant galloper go through to the final.
“The wide draw gave Wynburn Sheean the chance to avoid any trouble though he had to overcome Explosive Drums (seven) from his inside, I couldn’t be prouder with his performance,” Ben explained.
Any preparation leading into a race series can certainly be a daunting task for a trainer, though Ben knew heading into the Thousand heats that Wynburn Sheean was well primed to perform.
Connections from the Wynburn Racing Syndicate now wait to see how the box draw will play out.
“To be honest I can’t really make a firm choice on where this dog draws for the final next week, he has been placed in both favourable and awkward draws, he just needs that ounce of luck,” said Ben.
The prominent conditioner will have two runners in the Group 1 final next week with star bitch Wynburn Lethal causing an upset to land the final heat from Dashing George running 26.01 seconds.
A great host of interstate raiders took on the 2020 edition of the Ladbrokes Hobart Thousand series and the success story of South Australian sprinter Shadow Mist continued in claiming a heat by a narrow margin.
The Lauren Harris-trained son of Dyna Double One and Diva’s Shadow is racing to be the fourth SA greyhound in 71 years to achieve Hobart Thousand glory following the success of Erin’s Ace in 1949.
Tiggerlong Tonk defeats Sprint Gordon in a heat for the Hobart Thousand on 10 December.
Melbourne Cup placegetter Tiggerlong Tonk, for trainer Correy Grenfell, will appear in his second Hobart Thousand Final after taking honours in the fourth from Sprint Gordon to run 25.76sec.
Debbie Cannan will be looking for a second Hobart Thousand victory in three years having qualified the locally bred Kintyre who gave a career best run to take out sixth heat from Hooked On Brenda.
Zevatron (Paul Abela) and Sprint Gordon (Blake Pursell) were the remaining two runners to qualify.