TAB Million Dollar Chase winner Good Odds Harada will headline four heats of the Group 1 Beteasy Megastar at Dapto this Thursday night.
Returning to Sydney after a campaign in Victorian during their Melbourne Cup carnival, trainer Frank Hurst said his star is “bouncing around in his kennel, ready to go.”
Good Odds Harada had no luck when a good fourth behind Get It Gizmo in the Group 1 Top Gun at The Meadows on November 9, then was third behind Hooked On Scotch in the Shootout at Sandown, before finishing second at the same track to Oakvale Beauty in his Melbourne Cup heat.
“He kept drawing off the track and getting knocked over at the first turn,” Hurst said. “It’s good to get a draw again.”
Good Odds Harada has drawn perfectly in the three in heat four of the Megastar, and will clash with Million Dollar Chase finalist Jimmy Casey (box 6) and the smart Shanjo Prince (box 1).
Good Odd Odds Harada has only raced twice at Dapto and won both times, albeit back in November last year, and then in February this year.
“He’s been around there a few times,” Hurst said. “I took him there to trial last Thursday and he went 29.80-something, after the last, and he hadn’t had a run for a week or eight days.
“I slipped him again today up the straight, and he’s ready to go. He’s bouncing around in his kennel. I just hope he’s bouncing around on Thursday night.”
While he has won the world’s richest greyhound race, Group 1 glory is yet to come the way of Good Odds Harada. His only two Group 1 starts were when fourth to in the Top Gun, and when second to Premium Share in the final of the Nationals in Perth back in August.
“A Group 1 win is important to anyone, especially if he’s to go to stud, then it’s very important because that’s what they (breeders) look at. Maybe this will be his one,” Hurst said.
The top two from the heats will advance to the $75,000 to the winner Final the following Thursday, and as expected they have drawn some quality greyhounds.
In the opening heat Tennessee Tiger (box 1), Double Back (box 2) and Buck’s Future (box 3) headline a strong field.
In the second heat, Golden Easter Egg runner-up Federal Lilly (box 3), 2018 Million Dollar Chase runner-up Jamella Jet (box 1), and the talented sprinter Lightning VISION (box 6) are the leading contenders, while third heat is perhaps the most open with Ouzo (box 7), My Bro’s Ethics (box 1) and Electric Silk (box 8), among the chances.
