Falcon's Fury was the fastest qualifier for Friday night’s Ladbrokes Dubbo Gold Cup, with the Paul Braddon-trained greyhound recording 29.35 in his all-the-way heat win.
Having his first start since finishing seventh in a semi final of the Golden Easter Egg, Falcon’s Fury (pictured) was sent out an odds-on favourite for his Dubbo Cup heat and never looked like being beaten, defeating Slamming Thunder by more than eight lengths.
The Neil Staines-trained Mitra was the second fastest qualifier, clocking 29.74 in his heat.
“Mitra will be take beating if he can draw an inside box in the final because while he is not a lid-pinger, he has tremendous speed when he hits the ground,” Staines said.
“I train Mitra for a couple of blokes from Parkes, and they won fives races with the dog's dam Agni, which I also trained.”
Owner Michael Brookes landed the Group 3 Ladbrokes Magic Maiden with Blitzing Lass on Golden Easter Egg night and one of his employees, Jed Martin, gets his shot at big race glory in the Dubbo Gold Cup.
Martin, who works for Brookes making doors, owns Almost Black, who won his heat of the Dubbo Gold Cup in 30.00.
“Almost Black is going to need a bit of luck and will have to do everything right because the field is a cracker,” the dog's trainer John Chapman said.
“But young Jed is over the moon because Almost Black is the first greyhound he has owned, and the Dubbo Cup heat success last Friday was the dog's 20th win.
“Jed purchased the pup, which races as Almost Black, for only $2000, and he has so far earned $38,000.”
Martin's $2000 bargain buy will swell that total by another $10,000 if he can win Friday night's Dubbo final, although Falcon's Fury, who scored his 17th win in 26 starts with his near track record heat performance, will be hard to toss.
The other heat winner was Starburst Bassy (29.85).
The Ladbrokes Dubbo Gold Cup will be held this Friday night with fields out later today.
XXXX
Miss Splendamiro will be chasing her third win in as many starts when she contests Friday night's final of the Peg & Bill Miller Memorial at Dubbo.
Trained by Hank Vanderburg for Michael Phillips, Rod Yendle and David Blench, Miss Splendamiro produced one of the upsets of last Friday's heats when she toppled boom youngster Midnight Francis.
Phillips, president of Yagoona's Arena Sport Club, which hosts the annual Canterbury Bankstown City Cup at its Potts Park track, has returned to the sport after a stint as racing manager for former big race winning owner-breeder Kon Kola.
“I an managing director of a linen wholesale company as well as being president at Arena but greyhounds have always been my hobby,” Phillips said.
“A couple of years back my mate David Blench and I established a breeding set-up and registered the ownership name of DAM Racing for our greyhounds.
“We bred Miss Splendamiro after borrowing a brood bitch named Splendourous from breeder Lorraine Atchison, who had won eight races with her.
“Hank Vanderburg, who trains our greyhound, believes she will be very hard to beat in Friday night's final if she can draw boxes one, two or three.”
