The road to this year’s Nationals at Cannington commences on Saturday for the home state dogs when the WA Sprint and Distance Championships are held at the venue on Saturday.
That there’s only two heats of seven dogs in the Distance series was to be expected but to have only two heats in the Sprint division is a little disappointing.
Even so there’s plenty of interest in the sprinters and in the first heat (race four) a lot of it centres around the form of Zelemar Fever.
At her best Zelemar Fever is one of the best speedsters in the west, if not the nation, but she’s racing well below par at the moment.
Since she fell in the final of the Sapphire Crown in mid-April the talented black bitch from Linda Britton’s kennels has spent limited time on the track and she has only saluted in one of four starts.
In her two runs back from her most recent spell Zelemar Fever has shown unusual inertia out of the traps given her main weapon is early pace and her results have subsequently been disappointing.
As with last week she has an inside draw but she’ll need to produce a dramatic turnaround to take benefit.
Britton has several other good chances in this heat, the best of which is Star Recall.
If Star Recall can handle the pink, and her record suggests that she can, she should be up for a forward showing.
Jump The Queue (pictured with Margaret Hepple, wife of trainer Peter) is also out wide but is a still a great chance to grab the lead with her notable and consistent early speed although her main issue is being able to hold on at the other end of the race.
In the second sprint heat On Coin should take advantage of the pole and march into next week’s final as a winner.
He’s not racing at his absolute peak but unless he hits major roadblocks, which is unlikely given he’ll hold the rail and can power his way through most fields, On Coin will win.
Britton-prepared trio Gomes, Proven Will and Gone To Heaven are the challengers.
On paper heat one of the Distance Championship is easily the most competitive.
Ash Flash starts as favourite but she’s got plenty of rivals ready to step up if she falters.
The Paul Stuart-trained chaser seems to have developed some consistency with wins from three of her past four starts and she’s probably the best stayer going around in WA at the moment but she’s not invulnerable.
Bingle Monelli pushed Ash Flash last week and is close to another win over the 715m.
In boxes one and two Mullet Hunter and Free Candy also have claims.
Free Candy was beaten by Mullet Hunter in their encounter last week but that was the Steve Withers-trained brindle’s first crack over the 700.
A star over the middle distance Free Candy is a likely leader here and she should finish stronger this time around.
With most of the big guns in the other race Reverberate looks to have heat two (Race 7) to herself.
Houdini Monelli and Freeway Ace would both need to show improvement to test the favourite while Obama Keeping is unproven over the journey.
For Cannington fields, form and expert tips, click here.
Best Bet: On Coin (Race 5)
Best Value: Charity Earner (Race 7)
Quaddie: Race 5 – 1
Race 6 – 2, 4, 6
Race 7 – 3, 7
Race 8 – 2, 5, 6
$20 for 111.11%
