Nangar Range, owned and trained in by retired truck driver Greg Schofield, is all the rage for Sunday night's Ladbrokes Temora Cup after equalling the track record in his heat last weekend.
The greyhound is likely to start odds-on favourite after setting the time standard of 25.90 for the 457m trip in his heat win and then drawing the coveted box one for tonight’s feature race.
Schofield, who bought Nangar Range for $20,000 after the dog won last year's Grafton Maiden Classic for NSW western districts owner-trainer Dennis Barnes, is confident of his greyhound’s chances.
“This dog has always raced as if he wanted an outside box but he keeps coming up with box one and continues winning,” he said.
“When he draws the rails he seems to begin better.”
While Nangar Range will be the punters’ elect this evening, the crowd favourite will undoubtedly be Slick Simzy who will have cheer squads trackside representing his 10 owners from across NSW and Victoria.
Slick Simzy, who will jump from box six, is trained at Sutton Forest in the NSW Southern Highlands by Michael Clayton and was second fastest heat winner, stopping the clock at 26.14.
Despite Nangar Range's box and time advantage, Clayton does not believe the Victorian is “OVER the line”.
“I wanted one, two or eight for Slick Simzy so box six is no help but if he begins as quickly as I know he can he should go faster than he did in his heat,” Clayton said.
“Last week he had only three greyhounds behind him at the first turn and was three lengths behind the pacemaker Poppa Ogg in the middle stages before beating him by a half length.”
Clayton has put in the hard yards in a bid to help Slick Simzy win the Riverina's biggest race, making the seven hours round trip to Temora, 420km south-west of Sydney, in order to trial his greyhound a few days before repeating the drive for last week's heats.
Slick Simzy is raced by the K9 Racing Syndicate, which has 12 greyhounds in its portfolio.
Syndicate Manager Brent Sullivan said: “Our dogs were in four group finals last year with syndication giving people from all walks of life around Australia an opportunity to own a greyhound.”
Of the others in the Temora Cup, Poppa Ogg's (box four) box speed and early pace makes him the other threat to Nangar Range.
“I trialled him at Temora before the heats and he recorded 26.72, but when he was run down by Slick Simzy in his Cup heat Poppa Ogg clocked 26.18,'' trainer Darren Sultana said.
“So he found plenty between the trial and his race so he should be capable of improving again. Last week Poppa Ogg ran the fastest first sectional time and if he comes out running like he did in his heat he should be hard to catch in the final.
“Box four is okay because Poppa Ogg runs in a straight line when he jumps, he won't veer towards the rails and run the risk of colliding.”
The full 12-race card at Temora will be shown on Sky Racing this evening, with the racing beginning at 6.09pm.
For Temora Sunday fields and form, click here.
