Cowra’s Rod McDonald will become the first trainer to win three Wagga Gold Cups if he can land Friday’s Graeme Hull Memorial final with Dana Kis or Second Line.
McDonald took out the 2008 Cup with Dana Gretel and 12 months later landed the event with Dana Beatrice, who also won the 2009 Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park.
But McDonald admits his greyhounds face a tough task on Friday, remarking: “All eight finalists are capable of winning.
“Dana Kis has box one and Second Line three and while I would have loved to see their boxes reversed I’m not complaining about getting those draws in a $10,000 to the winner race.
“Although Dana Kis is a front runner Second Line is capable of going faster than her in the early stages.
“If Second Line reproduces his performance when he won at Wentworth Park in 29.78 on May 1, running early splits of 5.39sec and 13.73sec, he’ll be hard to beat.’’
But McDonald pointed out that Tiggerlong Katut, box eight, posted the the quickest early sections before being run down by noted strong finisher She’s Ayce in his heat.
And Tiggerlong Katut’s trainer John Cusack believes his greyhound has drawn ideally in box eight.
“He is not a genuine 525 metre greyhound but Tiggerlong Katut has good early speed and I like seeing him drawn wide,’’ Cusack said yesterday.
“There is a lot of early speed among the dogs drawn on the outside so it will be a charge to the first turn.
“Whichever dog leads at that point will be hard to toss and Tiggerlong Katut has a good show of being the pacemaker.’’
Southern Highlands trainer Michael Clayton will be represented by She’s Ayce, box two, and Establish, box seven.
“She’s Ayce had to draw inside to have any hope of winning so I’m thrilled to see her in box two,’’ Clayton said yesterday.
“While her future is going to be over middle and hopefully long distances, she has a great chance from her inside draw in this race.
“The difference between her and Establish is that Establish can put herself into a winning position from any box because she has good early speed.’’
In last week’s heats Lioness Lulu set the time standard of 30.29 when she ran down Dana Kis but she has drawn poorly in box four.
The other heat winners were She’s Ayce (30.35), Establish (30.72) and Second Line (30.73).
My selections are Tiggerlong Katut 1, Second Line 2, She’s Ayce 3, Dana Kis 4.
You Gotta Know, who raced wide from box four in her 23.23 heat win, looks positioned to take out the Blue Paws Final, 400m, which is worth $2000 to the winner.
You Gotta Know should make full use of box six while fastest qualifier I’ve Gotta Sting (23.21) may want to get wide from box two.
In the other major final, the $3000 to the winner 400m Butch Pertzel Memorial, Country Doll is my selection.
She bungled the start in her heat but was still able to sweep to an early lead before winning in 22.94.
Fastest heat winner Country Gun (22.89) moves from box one to box four while Max Destruction (22.92) is a keen railer who has drawn awkwardly in box six.
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