Burning Fuel produced a slashing trial for next month’s Group 2 Shepparton Cup with a runaway win in the best time of the night at Wentworth Park on Saturday.
The Mark Wilcox-trained flyer took her record to 10 wins from 13 starts, taking the lead entering the back straight before winning a 520m fifth grade final in 29.95sec.
“I’m off to Shepparton with her now but I won’t trial her on the track before the heats on August 13,’’ Wilcox said.
The Shepparton Cup heats are over 450m with the $47,000 to the winner final on August 18.
Rookie stayer Veloce Nero almost certainly earned a crack at the heats of the National Distance Championship at Wentworth Park on August 4 with her narrow first-up 720m win at WP on Saturday night.
The John Finn-trained greyhound took the lead on the back straight and held off a late challenge from Kanzan to win by a neck in a handy 42.55sec.
Veloce Nero’s part-owner Dennis Donoghue said later: “We leave our dogs’ campaigns to John Finn but I suppose the Distance Championship will be on the radar for her and also for her sister Poco Dorado, who is faster.’’
Kanzan was unlucky as she was badly checked when trying to reach the rails from box eight in the run to the first turn.
Kanzan, who has won in 42.35 at WP, will now have a short break away from Wentworth Park with the National Championship in view.
“I think I will give her a 618m race at Richmond before bringing Kanzan back to Wenty for the Championship heats on August 4,’’ trainer John Smart said.
Forbes-based Ray Smith was responsible for an outstanding training performance in getting Midnight Treat, better known as a stayer, to win a 520m fourth and fifth grade in 30.37sec.
Midnight Treat was surprisingly close to the leader She’s Grand at the half-way mark and came home too strongly to win by three lengths.
Midnight Treat has now earned nearly $90,000 in prizemoney, not bad for a greyhound which cost her owners $10,000 as a young unraced performer.
Sound Advice, who led throughout to notch his seventh Wentworth Park win in a 520m fourth and fifth grade on Saturday night, was lucky to be engaged at the meeting.
“He has just come back after being sidelined with a hip support injury and I wasn’t sure if he was ready to tackle 520m at Wenty,’’ trainer Christine Proctor said.
“I wanted to start Sound Advice in a shorter race at Maitland on Thursday but when he could not get a draw because there was no race for him, I nominated him instead for Wentworth Park tonight.’’
“He has finally learned to like Wentworth Park,’’ said trainer Tony Messina after Splinters finished powerfully to win a 520m fourth grade on Saturday.
“Although Splinters gets a bit wide I was happy to see him in box two tonight,’’ Messina said.
“If Splinters draws on the outside he gets even wider and in any case, he doesn’t really have enough early speed to make full use of an outside box.
“So I would rather see him boxed near the fence.’’
See you next week!
