Old-stager Burnt Ends – who turned four years of age in February – defied his younger rivals to become the first greyhound to qualify for the TAB Million Dollar Chase semi-finals through the regional qualifiers after taking out Thursday’s Casino Final.
Also advancing to the April 29 evening at Wentworth Park are Mercy Dash and Kingsbrae Anna who filled the placings in the first of 14 MDC Regional Finals which will be held around the State over coming weeks.
Amazingly it is the second time Burnt Ends has qualified for the Million Dollar Chase semi-finals. Back in 2020 he finished second in the Casino Regional Final behind Kooringa Lucy. However he suffered a wrist injury before the semi-finals and was unable to compete.
“His staying preparations are now over so it will just be running around in the sprints,” trainer Jeff Ahern said.
“I thought he would struggle to keep up with the sprinters in this race, but I kept him fresh and he’s done it again today.
“I’ll see how he pulls up and speak to the owner and we’ll decide about coming down for the semi-finals.
“I’ve only had about three runners at Wentworth Park. I had a winner there it was called McDeebee back in the early 2000s (2003). I’m originally from Queensland but I escaped the rat race to virtually retire down here at Casino a while back and I just have a few to muck around with down here.”
Burnt Ends jumped brilliant off the seven and was able to work across to find the fence heading out of the straight but was pressured by the favourite Mercy Dash.
But those aging legs refused to slow down and he was able to stave off all challengers and win the final in 27.72s.
The Casino trio now join the State winners of the 2021 National Sprint Championships who were given a ticket to the semi-finals with their Sprint titles: Zulu Warlord (NSW Regional), Good Odds Cash (NSW Metro), Mr Fix It (Victoria), Trying Again (Tasmania), Famor Beach (Queensland), Rushes (South Australia), Sunset Toxic (Western Australia) and Know Keeper (NEW ZEALAND).
The winner of Saturday’s Golden Easter Egg and Sunday’s Broken Hill Cup will also gain tickets into the MDC semi-finals.
