Dapto Puppy Classic winner My Bella Rose is aiming for her fourth win in a row when she lines up in race seven – the Moto Parts On The Move Sprint (365m) - at Nowra this afternoon.
My Bella Rose has won her past three starts at Nowra over the 365m and her trainer Allan Manwaring believes that his kennel-star's recent run of good form can be attributed to the step-down in distance.
"We were pushing her to be a 500m greyhound when she really wasn't," he said.
"Now we barely do any work with her. She now just has a poke around a big paddock and has a few sprints at the local track.
"I've put over a kilo on her in the past month and she seems to now relish running over the shorter distances."
Manwaring did all his early work with My Bella Rose at Nowra and the trainer believes this will give her an advantage in today's race where she will jump from box eight.
"She was broken-in at the track and they always tend to have a liking for where they learn their business.
"She's gone in as favourite and I think she deserves that based on her past few runs.
"But I really would have preferred her drawn down closer to the rails.
"I'm hoping there is some interference on her inside so she can get the chance to dart down past them and if she can do that she will probably win."
While a change in distance has meant a change in fortunes for My Bella Rose, Manwaring admits it will limit her racing plans for the future.
"Now a lot of the bigger races are off the table, I think we will just keep her down here and keep racing her over the shorter distances until we decide to retire her.
"After we retire her, her owner and I have decided we will breed with her but that point in time isn't anywhere in the near future."
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