It was girls’ night out at Bathurst for the series’ opening of the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, with three of the four Regional Qualifying heats taken out by the females.
First and second from each heat advanced to the first Regional Qualifying Final at Bathurst next Monday. First and second there are off to Wentworth Park for the series’ semi-finals on October 12. The $1 million to the winner Grand Final will be held at Wentworth Park on October 20.
The star of the night arrived early, in the opening heat of the rich new event, when the flying Miss Splendamiro (pictured) gave nothing else a chance leading from box rise to finish line and setting the time standard for the night, a slick 29.68s.
The win improved her faultless record at Bathurst to four starts for four wins and it would be a brave punter to say the reigning Bathurst Cup winner won’t maintain that unbeaten record next Monday night.
Second place and a berth in the final went to the JODIE Lord-trained Rohan Hill.
But that was just the start for the girls. In the following heat, the other runner who, along with Miss Splendamiro, was expected to feature prominently in the Bathurst series, the Victor Sultana-trained Sky Wave, booked her spot in the decider with a similar performance.
Sky Wave – the NSW representative at the recent National Championships in Melbourne – was never in danger of advancing out of the heats, jumping straight to the front, and while not quite as impressive as Miss Splendamiro, she still did enough to say she’ll be a major player next Monday night.
Sky Wave clocked 29.86s, and while pressured up the back, she was easily able to stave off Paul Braddon’s Double Up Gee which also grabbed a ticket in the Bathurst final.
Charmaine Roberts’ bitch Caitlyn Keeping, is on target to win her second big final in 10 days after she too led throughout to win her heat, clocking 29.94s.
On Friday night Caitlyn Keeping led all the way to win the Group 2 Black Top at Labrokes Gardens, and Roberts was happy with the way she had pulled up from the run, the unknown was that she had never backed Caitlyn Keeping up so soon in the past.
She had nothing to worry about, Caitlyn Keeping winning in 29.94s.
Emission Control battled on well to claim second and gain a spot in the final, but the first casualty of the series was the Bathurst track record holder Falcon’s Fury, who had no luck at all, and finished in third position.
The final heat of the night was the most open on paper, and this time it was one for the boys, with Modus Operandi taking out the prize in the slowest times of the heats, 30.10s.
Favourite punters again cheered again as Modus Operandi became the fourth favourite to salute in the heats, holding off the fast finishing Midnight Treat which made up many lengths to claim a spot in the final.
But the box draw which was conducted later in the evening, has added much intrigue to the final.
The Draw for the Final is:
1 Emission Control
2 Double Up Dee
5 Caitlyn Keeping
6 Midnight Treat
7 Sky Wave
Miss Splendamiro has had eight starts off the pink box, for four wins and two placings. Sky Wave has had five starts out of box seven for four wins, while Caitlyn Keeping has had two runs from box five for a win and a placing.
The speed coming across from out wide on Monday night will be lightning and play a major role on who gets what could be a winning break on their rivals.
