She was a good thing beaten most considered in the final of the Group 1 National Futurity last month but there were no such problems in the heats of the Richmond Oaks on Friday for Wild Flyer who clocked the best time of the night and ensured she will be favourite for next week’s $40,000 final.
On what was a big night for the Vanderburg brothers, Hank who has spent his life in the sport and had many fast dogs, now has a real shot at winning his first Richmond Oaks with Wild Flyer, while his brother Leo who has never had a runner in the Oaks, now has a finalist after his bitch Sniffy qualified, finishing second in her heat.
The pair then celebrated again after the box draw – Leo and Sniffy coming up with box one, and Hank and Wild Flyer getting the pink like she had on Friday.
“It feels great mate … unbelievable. It something you only dream of, well I dreamt about it,” Leo said of his first Oaks finalist.
“She’s a lovely beginner, she begins nine out of 10 times. Look to be in a final is great, win, lose or draw. I’m there, that’s something. It’s a good feeling for me.”
The star of the heats was Leo’s brother’s bitch, who in her heat missed a first turn scrimmage and was able to break away with the favourite, Fire On Ice heading down the back.
But it wasn’t long before she grabbed the lead and raced away for an emphatic four and quarter length win, in 30.43s, a time not only the quickest of the four Oaks’ heats, but faster than the three Derby heats, just pipping the 30.45s run by Group 1 winner King Cratos.
“It’s going to be tough next week, but if I don’t win it, I hope Leo wins,” Hank said. “If she runs like she did tonight she’ll have a big chance.
“Her last couple of runs have been ordinary. I was stoked with her run in the Futurity but the next two runs were steady, but tonight she certainly put her best paw forward.”
All eyes were on odds-on favourite Zipping Miranda in the third heat of the Oaks, and after missing the jump she was able to get the run through on the first turn and be sitting in third up the back.
But as she went to take a run under the leader Twice As Wise heading up the back, the gap closed and Zipping Miranda was cut out, allowing Zest To Excel to take the front and race away for a smart win in 30.82s.
Second went to Leo Vanderburg’s Sniffy, with Zipping Miranda in third, and unable to secure a spot in the final.
Speedy Northern Rivers sprinter Kooringa Lucy was favoured to bring her winning form to the big smoke in the opening heat of the Oaks. The Mitch Northfield-trained bitch had won her past four at Casino and Lismore, all in the best times of the meeting, but, try as she might on Friday, she couldn’t run down the Allan Ivers-trained Midnight Waltz.
A winner of two of her past three at Wentworth Park and The Gardens, Midnight Waltz clocked 30.72s in what was her first outing at the Londonderry circuit, and had a length and quarter to spare over Kooringa Lucy, with third going to Girl Interrupted.
It may not have been the fastest of the night, but it was most thrilling of finishes in the second heat of the Oaks.
Even the judge couldn’t split Really Unreal and Prim And Proper, eventually declaring a dead-heat after much deliberation.
Really Unreal strode alongside Prim And Proper on the home turn, but when they brushed she lost momentum and the leader kicked clear, only to be grabbed right on the post by the John Finn-trained bitch for a dead-heat.
The pair clocked 31.04s, and had a length and half to spare over third placegetter China O‘Brien.
The box draw for the final is: 1 Sniffy 2 Zest To Excel 3 Really Unreal 4 Prim And Proper 5 Fire On Ice 6 Midnight Waltz 7 Kooringa Lucy 8 Wild Flyer 9 Zipping Combo 10 Zipping Miranda.
