Canya Smoke Them Aiming For Three From Three In One
By Jeff Collerson
Canya Smoke Them is unbeaten from box one, broke 30sec in an identical grade at his last Wentworth Park race and clocked near record time at his most recent appearance over 603m at Gosford.
All that adds up to the JODIE Lord-trained, Mark Duclos-owned dog looming as Wednesday night's stand-out bet at headquarters.
Canya Smoke Them, who has won six races at Wentworth Park, will wear the red rug in the Wag Pets Foods Stakes, a 520m fourth and fifth grade event.
He won a similar race in 29.92 on January 28 when he exited box six, trailing Nangar Archie from the back straight to the home bend before drawing away to score by two lengths.
Canya Smoke Them's pair of box one victories have been at Wentworth Park and were far quicker than his latest success, as he clocked a flying 29.67 on September 24 and followed that up with a slick 29.80 effort on October 15.
"Grim Madara, who is perfectly drawn in box eight, is coming back from a good second over 603m at Gosford on February 4 and when they are returning to 520m after a middle distance run they usually go well,'' Lord said.
John Finn, who trained an astonishing 106 winners from 466 starters last year, holds a strong hand at Wentworth Park on Wednesday with definite prospects in races one, six, eight and nine.
Finn has Zipping Sylvia and Zipping Ruckman in boxes two and seven respectively in the GBOTA Welcome Maiden, Zipping Edith in box three in the Ladbrokes Punter Assist Stakes, Zipping Jada in box one in the Ladbrokes Switch Stakes, Zipping Vanessa going from box two in the Get Yourself Trackside Stakes and Zipping Muriel in the wentworthpark.com.au Stakes drawn in seven.
Wife Minnie Finn said: "Zipping Sylvia is our better chance in the Maiden because she has drawn better and in any case, is faster than her kennelmate.
"Zipping Edith is very quick but is still green although being drawn near the rails will help her.
"We are frustrated with Zipping Jada because she is desperate for an outside box but keeps drawing one, two and three.
"But even though she ran wide from box three she did manage to win at her last Wenty start on January 25 so she is still in with a good chance.
"Zipping Vanessa tends to be slow early but she is not badly drawn because she rails at the start and then might want to get off a bit on the bends.''
Another trainer who compiled a marvellous strike rate in 2022 is Jason Magri, who won 106 races from just 336 starters, and he has three strong chances at Wentworth Park on Wednesday.
Cometa Cost (box three, New NSW GBOTA Website Stakes), Zipping Digby (box three, GBOTA.com.au">www.GBOTA.com.au Stakes) and Inside Dart (box four, wentworthpark.com.au Stakes) will carry Magri's hopes.
"There is a bit of pace inside Cometa Cost but if he has any luck he has a good chance,'' Magri said.
"Zipping Digby is unbeaten in three races but while he hasn't raced for three months he is trialling well.
"I've only had Inside Dart for six weeks and as he seems to be a moderate beginner he might have his work cut out beating Modern Swinger.''
Modern Swinger went brilliantly from box six for an all-the-way Maiden Final win in a smart 29.75 at Wentworth Park last Saturday night but trainer CHRIS O'Brien is happy seeing his dog in box one in Wednesday night's final event, the wentworthpark.com.au Stakes, 520m.
"Modern Swinger had box one when he finished second to Canya Smoke Them at his first start last September at Wentworth Park but he was slightly under-done then and was also very green,'' O'Brien said.
"He is definitely better now, he has matured into a nice dog.''
