Super Sunday at Broken Hill For Running Of The Cup
By Simon Orchard
The striking red loam of outback NSW will provide a stunning backdrop for the running of the second edition of the Broken Hill Cup on Sunday evening.
An army of South Australian chasers are looking to dominate the feature final in 2023, with six of the eight runners in the $10,000-to-the-winner decider hailing from the festival state.
Clint Trengove lives in Lewiston now but has strong ties to the Broken Hill circuit after growing up in the town.
The 48-year-old even holding the president’s title at the greyhound club over a decade ago, now returning for another crack at the Cup after running second with Teddy The Bear last year.
“I put my heart and soul into Broken Hill before moving to South Australia about seven years ago and I’ve been trying to go back there every year and bring enough people with me to keep the race meetings going and help the club succeed,” Trengove said.
“It’s a similar meeting to Coonamble in a lot of ways. You get away from the bubble that you are in and meet some new people and have a good time. My home tracks are 17 minutes or 20 minutes away and sometimes it is tough and there is a bit of cost involved to do it, but I travel 1000km, dodging roos and all that on the way home to try and support races like this,” he added.
Trengove and wife Shelley went within a whisker of winning the inaugural running of the Broken Hill Cup in 2022, going down to She’s A Hotshot by just half a length.
He returns with three hopefuls in this year’s event, but only gives It’s Smudgy a chance in what he calls “a three-dog race”.
“Tim Aloisis’ dog [Ravers Army] should start favourite, Tony Rasmussen’s from Box 5 [John Dutton] will be hard to beat too and It’s Smudgy is the only one of mine that could win. She’s been travelling back and forth from Broken Hill for the last six weeks or so and won five straight at the track before the heats so she’s had a fair campaign and can run,” Trengove said.
“The other two are just going to be treading water. They’re both too slow out, Spring Illusion is really a 700m dog while Zipping Loxley only cost $800 and the top three in the market will have too many lengths on him,” he said.
Aloisi crediting Trengove for helping lure him to the Cup series this year, with the Munno Para West resident’s runner, Ravers Army, qualifying fastest for the final.
“We’ve always been intrigued by the Broken Hill Cup. The Trengove guys always go up and say it’s pretty nice up there so we’ve been wanting to do it for a few years and Ravers Army was going so well and when the dog is flying I suppose you want to target these kind of races,” Aloisi said.
“I was pretty happy with the heat win. I didn’t trial him up there so just took him in blind and he’s the type of dog that will improve second look. I’d expect him to jump a bit better in the final as well,” Aloisi said.
“There’s only a short run to the first turn so I was hopeful he’d draw close to the rail and when he got Box 3 I was pretty happy. I’d like to think from that box, and if he can position up behind the 1 or the 5, he can well. He is the type of dog who can step though so it wouldn’t surprise me if he led and if he did that, I think he’d go very close to breaking the track record,” he added.
Ravers Army stopped the clock in 30.30 in the heats, that time less than a length outside the track record set by Red Reactor in the MDC Regional Final last September.
Elsewhere in the field and Tony Rasmussen will rug up John Dutton and the well-travelled G1 National Futurity finalist Queen Of Scotch.
Go Go Ringo is trained by Shannon Ellis who hails from Oura just outside of Wagga Wagga.
While the Wade Hipwell-prepared Zipping Muriel is the only local greyhound in the race and the youngest in the eight dog field with just 13 race starts to her name.
“To be honest, I don’t have a lot of hope. It was her first look last week and it’s a tough field. It’s a bit of step up for her and she’s only had the one win so far,” Hipwell said.
“We brought her over from Sydney, she was with John and Minnie Finn previously, and threw her straight in. I reckon Smudgy might bring it home for Clint,” he said.
The Broken Hill Cup, worth $10,000-to-the-winner will be run on Sunday, May 7. The Sportsbet Richest Outback Maiden Final, worth $5,500, will also be contested, as well as the Broken Hill 375m Cup final.
