The Feral … greyhound racing’s cult hero Feral Franky, has produced one of the most stunning performances ever seen on a country racetrack.
Feral Franky not only won Sunday night’s Regional Final of the TAB Million Dollar Chase at Gunnedah, and qualified for the semi-finals of the event, he absolutely obliterated the track record, clocking a stunning 29.62s, a time which takes 0.57s off the previous mark.
To put some context into that, The Feral has gone more than 8 lengths faster than Myrniong Master went in May in clocking 30.19s.
And it wasn’t a case of jump to the front and run.
Feral Franky was tardy out of the boxes as he can often be. He was stuck between two runners on his outside and two inside him at the first turn and it could have easily turned ugly as the field looked for their spots. But as he also often does, The Feral showed great track sense, pushed his way through and into third spot, then powered to the lead up the back and was off and gone.
Courtesy of the win, Feral Franky has now booked his place in the October 11 semi-finals of the series where he will now be one of 64 semi-finalists, competing for one of the eight places in the TAB Million Dollar Chase Grand Final on October 18.
And it would be a brave man to say he can’t go all the way to win the $1 million after performances like Sunday night’s.
“You don’t know how quick they are going, but at his first look here he trialed 29.82s, and they apparently had a bloke here doing the track all week, so maybe it’s (the track) a bit quicker,” Smith said.
Asked if he had held his breath going into the first turn, Smith said: “The good thing about putting them into the boxes, from there all you can see is a bunch of dogs and you just hope you come out of it OK.
“He doesn’t mind a bit of tightening, he can handle that, it’s all part of racing, and he came through it pretty well and then off he went.”
Smith had targeted the Gunnedah series because it was one of the first in the TAB Million Dollar Chase series. He wanted to hopefully qualify for the semi-finals early then plot a plan heading towards October 11.
“Yes it is mission accomplished, and we can just set our plan now and hopefully give him every chance,” Smith said.
“We’ll go to the Speed Star (a match-racing series in Melbourne next weekend), and that will fill in a week. He can stay competitive in that, and hopefully earn some money without finding too much trouble.”
Smith was asked if he would then be tempted to put The Feral in cotton wool before the Chase semi-finals.
“Just a little bit, but not too much. I don’t think any dog is going to win it sitting at home in the kennels a few weeks before.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks to kill, so we’ll have to sit down and work out where we are going to go.”
Following the performance, the price of Feral Franky was slashed with tab.com.au and he is now the outright favourite to win the Grand Final at $9.
Second place went to Charlie Casey, 8¾ lengths back, with Squiggle Keeping a head away third and another head back to China O’Brien in fourth. That trio also qualified for the semi-finals.
The TAB Million Dollar Chase heads to Bulli on Monday night with two tremendous heats, featuring the likes of Premium Share, Shima Shine, Pindari Express, and Global Impact.
