Stilton Blue will start his preparation for a potential tilt at the Group 3 Bulli Gold Cup in a 472m race at the Illawarra circuit tonight.
The Philip Goodsell-trained chaser has been in good form for the past month Despite not registering a win since he took out the Group 3 Nowra Puppy Classic in late March.
Following that win, Stilton Blue (pictured) was entered into the Golden Easter Egg series where he finished a respectable fourth to Keybow in his heat. Stilton Blue then took part in the listed Ultra Sense series where he finished second both in his heat and the final to Awesome Project.Despite not managing a win, Goodsell took a lot from the runs and believes they put his kennel-star in the box seat for win at Bulli tonight.
"He's shown a good turn of foot recently and his first sections are better than ever," Goodsell said.
"Stilton Blue is starting to develop and mature into a better dog. He's only a young dog and he's still got a lot more learning to do but he will get better with more time. Every time I've raised the bar with him he's answered the question."
Goodsell was disappointed with Stilton Blue's unlucky run in his Golden Easter Egg heat, believing the dog could have measured up with the rest of the field if he had of progressed through the series.
"He was probably quite unlucky in his heat," he said.
"He got squashed out as soon as boxes opened. El Caballo and Frost Jay Jay came across and jumped on top of him.
"He couldn't really get any galloping room and in the meantime, Keybow was off and running. When he was actually able to really get going, he couldn't quite do it because the start had taken a bit too much petrol out of him.
"He should have been closer at the end but the trouble at the start of the race stuffed him up. It's disappointing because he probably would have been very competitive in the series if he had made it through the heats."
Tonight’s race at Bulli (race 6) will only be Stilton Blue's second start at the track but this does not worry the trainer who is looking to get his greyhound some experience before the Bulli Gold Cup heats on May 21.
"I thought he could use a change of scenery and this could be a bit of a warm-up for him before the Cup if the owner (Jason Bolwell) and I choose to go down that path," Goodsell said.
"He's only had the one run at Bulli before but in that race he ran a really good second to Natural Player who is a talented chaser.
"It looks to be quite a competitive 4th/5th Grade race and I guess a lot of dogs are also using these next few weeks as preparation for the (Bulli Gold) Cup."
While Stilton Blue has drawn box four in the race, this shouldn't disadvantage the greyhound too much judging by his impressive record of four wins from five starts in the blue rug.
"He's got the short end of stick with box draws throughout his career, but it really doesn't worry us anymore because I think he's now learnt how to handle those boxes and his record from them speaks for itself really," Goodsell said.
Goodsell also has another two runners engaged tonight at Bulli tonight - Spring Creek Jed and Mario Max - the latter of which is a litter-brother of Stilton Blue.
Goodsell hopes the family form continues in race nine where Mario Max will jump from box five.
"Mario Max is Stilton Blue's full brother. He's only just started racing but he's run some pretty decent third places in the past few weeks but he can't pull a decent box either," he said.
"Right now he's not in the same class as Stilton Blue but you just never know with young dogs. We'll have a little patience and give him a bit of work and see where he goes.
"He's looking like a really good dog though I think he's just starting to turn the corner about now.
His other runner Spring Creek Jed will line up from box four in race five of the night, a race Goodsell believes will be a difficult challenge for the greyhound.
"I've been training Spring Creek Jed for a friend who is recovering from hip surgery," he said.
"He's a handy dog with a good couple of wins under his belt but he is still learning to race and can be puppy-ish at times.
"He does a few things wrong here and there but he has ability.
"He's got a tough job tonight in his race with Silent Effective in box one so we'll just have to see how he handles it."
Full fields, form and expert selections for tonight's Bulli meeting can be found by clicking here.
