Victorian trainer Nicole McRae is extremely confident that her kennel star Walk Hard will handle his first race start at the Bulli track when he lines up in heat one of the Group 3 Sportingbet Bulli Gold Cup (472m) tonight.
The Warragul Cup winner (pictured) will be making only his second trip to New South Wales and according to McRae it was the greyhound’s love of one-turn tracks that convinced her to nominate for the series.
“He just loves the horseshoe tracks and from the looks of what I’ve seen Bulli looks to be a nice big spacious track,” she said.
Walk Hard (currently $1.85 fixed with Sportingbet) has box one in the first heat of the Bulli Gold Cup and despite having never raced or trialled at the track before, McRae is confident that he will adapt quickly.
“He shouldn’t have a problem handling the track. He’s come out and won first up at Warrnambool and in Hobart as well,” she said.
Since winning the Group 2 Warragul Cup back in January, Walk Hard’s form on paper has been somewhat mixed. But McRae believes the greyhound has been much better than what his form shows.
“His record probably doesn’t show it but he’s been in great form since his Warragul Cup win,” the trainer said.
“He won a heat of the Healesville Cup and broke a track record at Warrnambool but he’s had terrible luck with draws in a lot finals and has been up against really tough competition.
“He was also in the disastrous (Golden) Easter Egg heat that was declared a no race. I think he probably would have qualified had the lure not broken down.”
While confident that Walk Hard will be competitive in the Bulli Gold Cup series, McRae believes her greyhound will have to be at his best to make it through to the final.
“It looks to be a really difficult series. There are some great dogs that Walk Hard will be coming up against but I think he’ll handle them especially given the calibre of dogs he’s been racing against in Victoria.”
One greyhound Walk Hard will be up against is the Mark Wilcox-trained Highly Respected (box three, $7.50). Highly Respected is one of three greyhounds Wilcox has entered into the cup heats, with Knocka’s Return (box one, heat three, $2.30), Natural Player (box eight, heat two, $3.10) also competing.
Knocka’s Return is returning first up from injury after being beaten in the Temora Cup final and Natural Player is returning from a mild kidney infection that kept him off the track for the past few weeks.
Wilcox hopes their lack of preparation will not impact on their performances too much.
“They haven’t had any game time at all since being injured and it’s a big worry for me,” he said.
“They’ve had a few trials at Bulli over the 400m but that's about the extent of their preparation.
“They are both right to go but I would have preferred to have given them a race or two before putting them into the heats but it hasn't worked out that way.
“It’s difficult to predict how they will go given their lack of preparation but I’m hoping their good draws will help them put in good runs and make it through to the final. They will be much better after the heats for having had a proper run.”
Meanwhile, Wilcox hopes Highly Respected can put in a solid performance despite being the weakest greyhound of the three.
“He can match it with Knocka’s Return and Natural Player over the 400m but the 472m just about sees him out,” he said.
“He’s a real honest campaigner though and puts his all into every race which is the most important thing.”
Wilcox believes that any of his greyhounds can win on the day with a good performance but thinks one dog in particular has the best chance in the series.
“Out of the three of them, I think Natural Player is probably my best chance. Knocka’s Return lack of preparation and injury worries me and Highly Respected probably can’t match the rest of the field on times.”
There are four heats of the Bulli Gold Cup taking place with the top two from each qualifying for next week's $25,000-to-the-winner final.
Click here for fields, form and expert selections for Bulli.
