The inaugural Regional Qualifying series of the GRNSW + Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase concluded at Richmond on Friday night with the last of the 22 qualifiers from the regions booking their semi-final berths.
It was the Andrew Crouch-trained Big Butters, better known as a stayer than a sprinter, who claimed the Richmond final, and will head with the other 21 qualifiers from the regionals, to Wentworth Park on October 12 for the eight semi-finals.
It is a tremendous training effort from Andrew and his son Adam, getting Big Butters to sprint so well, and there were a few surprised looks when she flew out of the boxes and led clearly on settling. Once in front she was going to take a power of beating. Zipping Bailey ran home strongly to snatch the 22nd and final Chase semi-final spot from the regionals.
“We had a feeling she was going to lead,” said Adam. “She just pulled up that well and there wasn’t that much pace in this race.
“There was a lot of strength there but there wasn’t that many in the race who had that early pace. We felt that if she could cross the two, which she did, then once she got out in front she was always going to be hard to run down.”
While a noted stayer, Big Butters loves Richmond and has an impeccable record over the 535m there, with Friday’s win her fourth from as many starts, however this was the quickest as she clocked 30.30s.
At the finish Big Butters had a length and three quarters to spare over Zipping Bailey, but heading out of the back straight the favourite looked like she had the leader well within her sights.
“We know how strong Big Butters is and we knew she was capable of running home in 14.8s here,” Adam said. “I think the one (Zipping Bailey) is a very strong dog but we knew once she (Big Butters) got that clean air in front she would be really hard to run down.”
Adam said rather than choosing to just keep Big Butters fresh for the semis, they are likely to give her a run at Wentworth Park before October 12, as she hasn’t been to headquarters for some time.
“Since dropping her back from the 700m to the 500m we have changed the way we were training her and kept her a bit fresher due to that drop in distance and we’ll probably stick to that, but give her another look at Wenty before the semis.”
With Zipping Bailey claiming second for the Jason MACKAY kennel, it completed a night where MACKAY qualified two runners for the semi-finals, several kilometres apart.
The MACKAY-trained True Talent finished second behind Elusive Wave at LADBROKES GARDENS earlier in the evening, booking a berth in the semi-finals. Two and a half hours later, and MACKAY had another semi-finalists courtesy of Zipping Bailey.
Those greyhounds who qualified through from the Regionals are: Rohan Hill and Double Up Dee from Bathurst, Snug and Raven Izmir from Lismore, Big Black and She’s Gifted from Maitland, Embye and Zipping Mitzy from Bulli, Blue Sky Riot and King Jeremy from Wagga Wagga, Midnight Starlet and Little Digger from Dubbo, Champion Model and Bogan Way from Temora, Zippy Ethics and Bogan Doonie from Nowra, Fabrique and Bokarm Dean from Grafton, Elusive Wave and True Talent from LADBROKES GARDENS and now Big Butters and Zipping Bailey from Richmond.
The series then has two more rounds of City Qualifiers, on Saturday and the following Saturday, before the semi-finals on October 12.
For those looking for Tickets for the Grand Final on October 20, these can be found at Tickets">www.milliondollarChase.com.au/Tickets.
