Wicked Warrior is the greyhound to beat in next month's Group 2 Richmond Derby following his devastating performance to win at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
The Jason Magri-trained greyhound, who had overcome a bad check to win in 30.42 at Wentworth Park at the start of the month, finally nailed the start on Saturday and led throughout in 29.64.
Not only was that time well inside his personal best Wentworth Park figures of 29.80, but it easily eclipsed Royal Turbo's slick 29.98 effort in Saturday night's top grade 520m race.
Heats of the Richmond Derby will be run on March 3 with the $40,000 to the winner final a week later.
Royal Turbo continued his great form by leading throughout to upset heavily backed favourite Brad Hill Billy in Saturday's free-for-all, posting fast splits of 5.43 and 17.90.
Royal Turbo, bought as an unraced youngster for $10,000 by trainer Glen McKinley, led throughout to win at Wentworth Park on February 1 in 30.29 before chasing home Aston Ebert on February 4.
"I think the win on February 1 took the edge off Royal Turbo slightly because while he ran a good race three nights later, he was a lot better tonight after having a week off,'' McKinley said on Saturday.
"At this stage I plan to keep bringing Royal Turbo back to Wentworth Park.''
When Foreseeable was educated, his owner Tyed Ciszewski and trainer Ron Lambert believed they had a potential top grader in their care.
"But he turned into a one-paced kind of dog,'' Lambert said after Foreseeable's long priced win on Saturday night.
Foreseeable has now won five of 46 starts but had been placed in his two previous Wentworth Park outings before Saturday night.
"He is jumping well at Wentworth Park but nowhere else,'' Lambert said.
Miss Spritely was fastest of the seven heat winners in Saturday night's ladbrokes.com.au series, stopping the clock at 30.13 after leading throughout.
Her trainer Evelyn Harris has qualified with two runners in next week's final, as Cosmic Bonus, a younger half-brother to Miss Spritely, led all the way in his heat in 30.27.
There was no fluke about Miss Spritely's performance as her splits were 5.53 and 18.16 compared with Cosmic Bonus' sectional times of 5.56 and 18.19
Starzsa Light stamped herself as a serious contender for next month's Group 3 Wentworth Park Gold Cup with an all-the-way 720m win on Saturday night.
The DEAN Swain-trained greyhound easily held off her kennelmate Miss Foxy Lee to win in a nippy 42.51.
"She is only 26 months old which is young for a stayer so she has a big future,'' Swain's father, fellow trainer Sid, said later.
"Whereas most top stayers come from a long way back in their races, Starzsa Light is a hard chasing front runner, the sort of long distance greyhound one dreams about.''
Heats of the Wentworth Park Cup are set down for March 18, with the $25,000 to the winner final a week later.
See you next week!
