Days after landing the Group 1 National Sprint Championship with Jury, champion Queensland trainer Tony Brett will tackle the heats of the Group 3 Angliss Meats Townsville Cup this evening.
Brett has three of his kennel making the trip up north, including last year’s Townsville Cup winner Zabdon Ferrari, who will jump from box four in heat one (race five).
Zabdon Ferrari, the current 498m track record holder at Townsville, will compete against the Tom Tzouvelis-trained Gadsby’s Road who recorded a 30.36 win at Albion Park last Friday night and has the gun draw from box one in tonight’s heat.
Brett also has Split Image in heat three (race seven) and Opal Nera in the fourth and final heat (race eight).
Opal Nera, who was a reserve for last week’s National Sprint Championship, looks a particularly strong chance in his heat having drawn box one.
The best of the local chances in tonight’s heats is Rocket’s Magic, trained by veteran Robert Lound.
A track record holder over the Townsville short course and a 2016 Townsville Cup runner-up, Rocket’s Magic will resume from a spell in heat four and Lound is confident of his chances.
“He’s been given a handful of trials at the Townsville track in recent weeks and running some good times. I believe he’s set for a strong showing, and it’d be great to see him feature in my local cup once again this year,” Lound said.
The top two placegetters from each heat of the Townsville Cup will progress to next week’s Group 3 final.
Click here for fields and form for Townsville.
