Running fast she can handle, it’s travelling in a car that Darren Russell’s bitch Snug is a not a fan of.
The talented Snug will be Russell’s sole representative in tonight’s heats of the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase at Ladbrokes Park Lismore, the Queensland trainer deciding to take this member of his team to a “close” venue.
Travelling to NSW racing venues from his base at Innisplains, just over the border in South East Queensland, is something Russell does regularly, often racking up plenty of kilometres each week. Snug however prefers the short trips.
“She’s a bit of an ordinary traveller,” Russell said. “When she went down for the Easter Egg heat (at Wentworth Park in March) I drove down in a day and that didn’t work out at all.
“Last week when I went to The Gardens (for the heats of the Group 2 Black Top), I broke it up and stayed at someone’s place, and it all worked out well. She settled in well and ran well, but she just doesn’t do well in the car.
“It’s only an hour and a half to Lismore so that’s not too bad for her.”
Snug has drawn the three box in the second heat of the series at Lismore, looks perfectly placed to spear straight to the lead, and is currently in great form with wins at four of her past five starts.
“Yeah she’s flying at the moment,” Russell said.
After finishing second behind Black Forge in her heat of the Black Top at The Gardens, Snug returned home and won at Albion Park last Thursday in 30.09s. And she has been to Lismore before.
“Yeah she won a heat of the Cup there last year in 29.7s. She ran fourth in the final behind Tony Brett’s dog Jury. He had the three (box) and she had the four, and he runs up the track, and things just didn’t work out. He’s a hard man to beat too T. Brett, although I did beat him in the Cup the year before (with Tripum) so it was a bit of square up.”
Russell said he knew the moment he got Snug that she was above average.
“I got her after about 12 starts,” he explained. “Barry Dull had trained her and sadly he passed away, he had cancer. His missus then trained her for around half a dozen starts, and then I got her.
“I knew she could run, she had already run 30.40s in a heat of the Vince Curry (at Ipswich).”
She came to Russell with four wins and four placings from 12 starts, and he had instant success with Snug, winning at Albion Park at her first start in his kennel. She has won another 12 races for him since then.
Russell’s involvement in the Million Dollar Chase won’t end at Lismore. He’ll head to Maitland on Thursday where he has Precious Sal and Yeah Okay engaged in that club’s regional heats of the series.
“It’s come up quickly since it was announced, and it’s been a bit rushed, and you’ve had to change your plans around where you were taking dogs, but it’s certainly worth chasing.”
