Two years ago Sam Sultana boxed the winner of the Group 1 Sportsbet Dapto Megastar, the brilliant Flying Ricciardo which was trained by his daughter Kristy, and now next Thursday Sam gets the chance to win his very own Megastar.
And if ever a greyhound deserves to snare a big race win, it’s Sam’s sprinter Yuko Girl.
In 2022 Yuko Girl has raced in the finals of the Group 1 National Futurity, the Group 1 Peter Mosman Opal, the Group 2 Ipswich Gold Cup, the Group 2 Black Top, the Group 2 Richmond Oaks, and the Group 3 Goulburn Cup, the Group 3 Bathurst Gold Cup, the Group 3 New Sensation, and now heads to the Group 1 Megastar.
Day surgery in Sydney meant Sam couldn’t be at Dapto on Thursday night to watch his girl lead throughout and qualify for next week’s final in 29.73s but he’ll be there next week looking to emulate that December night in 2020 when Flying Ricciardo gave superstar Victorian Simon Told Helen a start and a beating.
And Yuko Girl has drawn the red for the final and is set to lead her rivals around the first turn in yet another big race.
JODIE Lord’s Punter’s Bandit was second three lengths back and as a result also made it through to the $75,000 to the winner final.
There was just 0.06s or less than a length between the winning times of the four heat victors. Fastest was On The Bus in 29.72s, Yuko Girl then ran 29.73s, Coast Model 29.74s and Father Rick in 29.78s.
It was almost 12 months since Rod O’Brien’s On The Bus won his only race at Dapto, but he picked the right time to register number two, taking out the opening heat in 29.72s.
“I just thought he was on his game tonight. He was freshened up and I think that was a secret to him,” O’Brien said. “He just peaked once he turned three (year’s of age), and his last few runs have been really good, but I didn’t think he’d ever run that time.”
Second place 3¼ lengths away, and as such claiming a spot in the final was Forever Thankful for trainer Kayla-Jane COLEMAN who had the third placegetter in last year’s Megastar Final, Tachycardic.
The super consistent, NSW Greyhound of the Year finalist Zipping Kyrgios, who was also a Megastar finalist in 2021, was stuck in a jam up on the first turn and both he and the fancied Canya Smoke Them lost all winning chance at that moment.
JODIE and Andy Lord qualified three runners for the final – heat winner Coast Model and runners-up Punter’s Bandit and Good Odds Emma.
Coast Model, who was a gallant second to kennelmate in the Million Dollar Chase final back in May, led from box one and once she did many would have thought that was game over. But O’Brien’s He’s Grand moved on by entering the back and looked set for the win on the top turn.
But Coast Model showed she doesn’t have to lead to win, swinging around the leader and charging home to win by ¾ length over Lochinvar Lona who ran home for second and a spot in the final.
The final heat of the night saw Father Rick continue to mix his distances and prove trainer Ray Webster knows exactly what he’s doing, stepping up from the 440m of the Goulburn Cup a month ago, to the 600m at Dapto in recent weeks then back to the 520m on Thursday night, and scoring a great come from behind victory.
The run of the race however came from the runner-up Good Odds Emma who came down on her nose when squeezed early and was still last heading out of the back before weaving her way through and charging home late to grab second 3½ lengths behind the winner.
