Andrea Dailly’s flying machine Fernando Bale looms as the stumbling block to owner Frank Elniz’s bid to score his first Group race win after five attempts in Saturday night’s National Derby at Wentworth Park.
Elniz, who owns the Jason Magri-trained Bad Boy Sniper (pictured), bought his first greyhound just two years ago but has had four group finalists, including Soviet Missile and Freddy’s Smile.
“But Bad Boy Sniper is my best chance, " Elniz said. "He is something special.
“Jason Magri has made this dog what he is and I’m confident about him winning.
“I bought Sniper as a three months old puppy for $1200 from a good friend Toby Weekes, who is a neighbour of mine at Molong.
“Toby was keen for me to get into greyhounds and sold me three from the Dyna Tron-Isseymiyake litter in January 2013.
“They can all run but Bad Boy Sniper is far and away the best.’’
Fernando Bale is the $2.75 favourite with Sportsbet, with Bad Boy Sniper not far behind at $3.20.
In last week’s semi-finals Fernando Bale set the time standard of 29.42 but while Bad-boy-sniper">Bad Boy Sniper won in only .01 slower figures, his first two splits of 5.41 and 13.71 were well short of Fernando Bale’s blistering 5.31 and 13.61.
And Fernando Bale had posted an even quicker initial section of 5.29 when he led throughout to win his Derby heat.
Fernando Bale’s only hang-up could come at box rise if he happens to dwell and is crowded by Topper Road (box eight, $6), who has begun brilliantly in his heat and semi wins.
Crack Victorian trainer Jeff Britton gives his bitch Weblec Belle ($6.50) and great chance of causing an upset in Saturday night’s National Futurity final.
Weblec Belle, who chased the flying Spring Leaf from the middle stages in the fastest (29.50) semi-final last week, is ideally dawn in box eight.
“She uses a bit of the track so is suited drawn wide but my only query is that other Victorian trainers have told me it is hard to win finals at Wentworth Park from box eight,’’ Britton said.
“Naturally I’m hoping the likely leaders jam up a bit early because Weblec Belle is very strong and should keep out of trouble from box eight.’’
Spring Leaf ($2.60) is favourite but needs to begin as quickly as she did last week.
While ideally drawn in box one, Spring Leaf has to avoid her kennelmate, the Andrea Dailly-trained Dyna Nico ($5), in the run to the first turn.
Dyna Nico has box three and although she was run down in her semi-final her early splits were 5.35 and 13.69 which equalled or bettered Spring Leaf’s 5.35 and 13.76.
Kerrigan Bale ($4.20), the third of Dailly’s four Futurity finalists, has box four but with a clean start should get a clear run.
Tuavasa Shek’s trainer Darryl Chapman believes his greyhound can improve sharply on his heat time when he contests Saturday night’s Schweppes Distance Series final.
Tuavasa Shek ran down tearaway leader Addison Road in 43.03 in his heat while Gazza’s Angel came from midfield to win the other heat in 43.09.
“My dog has previously clocked 42.56 at Wentworth Park so I can’t see why he won’t run that again,’’ Chapman said.
“Last week he was coming off a hard 635 metre race at Lismore three days earlier and I think that run flattened him.
“He had needed the race at Lismore but there’s no risk it took the edge off him for last week’s 720m heat and he should go a lot faster this week.
“Tuavasa Shek has box seven, the same draw he had last week, and my only concern is the chance the speedy Flamin’ Go, who has box eight and made the pace in her heat, might crowd him in the run to the first turn.’’
For Wentworth Park Saturday fields, form and expert picks, click here.
Jeff Collerson's Wentworth Park Saturday picks:
Best Bet: Love Affair (Race 4)
Best Value: Weblec Belle (Race 8)
Quaddie: Race 5 – 4, 1, 2
Race 6 – 7, 4
Race 7 – 7, 8
Race 8 – 8, 1, 4, 3
$20 for 41.66%
