Leading Hunter Valley trainer Jason MACKAY continued his tremendous recent run of winners when he qualified the fastest two into the final of the Group 1 Ladbrokes National Futurity at Wentworth Park on Friday night.
MACKAY took out the first two heats of the series with Aston Maeve and Zipping Veyron both leading throughout, and clocking within 0.01s of each other.
Time honours went to Zipping Veyron who clocked 29.86s, just shading her kennelmate’s 29.87s.
“She got a little injury last week and we have had to do a bit of maintenance on her this week,” MACKAY explained after her sixth behind Connie’s Boy at Wentworth Park last week.
“But that’s her forte. Nail the start. with good sections, and try and pinch a break and hang on, and she did that tonight.
“She has got those break-neck sections. She’s a nice honest bitch, who is improving all the time and she has taken a liking to this joint.
“Aston Maeve is a novice in this company, she’s only had the three starts and she’s got an impressive record on the local tracks, but she’s never been through the boxes here, never had a 520m, so she did well. She copped a bumping duel, and looked good, and I think she could be a sharp improver.”
Victorian Aston Silk led throughout to win her heat in 29.98s, maintaining her perfect record which now stands at four starts for four wins.
“I was really happy with her,” trainer Jason Thompson said. “She’s only young, and really didn’t have a lot of trialling before she got to the races, so it was very new to bring her up here, she’s never travelled away, and only ever raced at Sandown. It’s quite a new experience for her, and I’m delighted with the result.
“If you look through her form, you notice every run at Sandown from her first race to her third race, she found six lengths. I’m not saying she going to find that next week but I’m sure with that one race under her belt, I‘d like to think she’ll find enough to be competitive in the final hopefully.”
Hank Vanderburg’s Wild Flyer staged a strong performance to win her heat in 29.98s.
Unable to hold the lead into the first turn off the red draw, she stalked the leader Aston Perignon and eventually swept to the lead on the home turn taking the win.
Aston Perignon held on for second and secured a spot in the final, the third qualifier for leading owner Ray Borda.
The fifth heat winner was the Jeff Galea-trained Run Baba Run who did just that taking the lead early and never being threatened, clocking 30.25s.
The $75,000 to the winner final of the National Futurity will be run next Friday night, January 24, just one of three Group 1 events on a stellar evening of greyhound racing, and the box draw was conducted on Friday.
The draw is: 1 Aston Maeve 2 Run Baba Run 3 Sneaky Marquee 4 Zipping Veyron 5 Wild Flyer 6 Kooringa Lucy 7 Aston Silk 8 Aston Perignon 9 Philadelphia Pip 10 Cumbria Belle.
