Superstar She’s A Pearl headlines three heats of the Group 3 Ladbrokes Brother Fox at Dubbo this Saturday night, with fellow Group race winners Wyndra All Class and Embrace, and defending champion Zipping Maserati also set to step out in the series.
The 516m non-graded event (formerly known as the Dubbo Gold Cup), worth $50,000-to-the-winner, is further boosted by the inclusion of 2022 Million Dollar Chase finalists Doonan and Agland Luai, while emerging chasers We Don’t Share, Quantifiable and Zipping Sabrina will rug up for the feature as well.
Add in a good smattering of starters from the Central West, with the Jack Smith, Kirralee Woodhead and Scott Board kennels all represented in the heats, and it should make for a thrilling 2023 edition of the race.
Dubbo Greyhound Racing Club president, Shayne Stiff, said it was great to see the return of the State’s number one chaser to Dubbo.
“All eyes will be on She’s A Pearl and rightly so, she’s a champion. I think Dubbo is a track you do need to have a run on before racing here and even though it’s been a while, she has raced here before. It’d be great to see her quality for a race like the Brother Fox,” Stiff said.
“We’ve also got a really good group of young dogs coming for the $20,000 Peg & Bill Miller race. You only need to look at the quality of the trainers targeting the race to realise what it means to people. Minnie Finn is bringing a couple, David Pringle is coming, Jack Smith has a few and I know some of the locals have been holding a few back for this race,” he added.
“And Bill and Peg Miller were Ann Barnes’ mother and father so I’m sure they’d love to win the race as well,” he said.
Stiff will also send around recent G3 Taree Cup finalist Return Mac, a 10-time winner at the Dubbo track.
“He loves Dubbo, he’s the 400m track record holder here and he couldn’t be any happier. It’s a hard race but he should lead and if they get checked in behind, you never know your luck in the big city,” Stiff said.
Wyndra All Class has been one of the stars of 2023, with the Daniel Gatt-trained bitch attempting to add a Brother Fox title to her G1 National Futurity and G3 Ambrosoli triumphs.
“She’s at the stage now where she can chase the class races because she’s certainly good enough. It’s my first starter in the race which is pretty cool because Brother Fox was the first dog I ever heard of and my father always said he was the gun dog of his generation,” Gatt said.
“I went to Dubbo this morning to trial Wyndra All Class and she didn’t fly, but it was a good first look for her. I gave her a box to box and Shayne [Stiff] said we should be happy with that first effort,” he said.
“Everyone knows she wants to get wide but if she jumps she can almost offset Box 1. There’s a real good pup out wide, that one of Jack Smith’s [Red Hot Frankie] looks like a real good bitch so we'll have to keep an eye on her too,” he added.
Jay Opetaia has been busy preparing a quartet of greyhounds for the race alongside Scott and Josh Board at their Spring Hill base, with the 19-year-old hoping the team can qualify Agland Luai, Street Of Dreams, Sprint Meteor and Spring Patriot for the May 20 final.
“We sort of mapped it out and targeted this race for a long while. It’s our home track and Spring Patriot ran second in it last year, and apart from Street Of Dreams, all our dogs are broken in at Dubbo and they know the track so it'd be nice to come back and win the brother fox with one of them,” he added.
“Agland Luai is coming back from a spell after getting injured during the Golden Easter Egg series. We gave him the time off to get him 100% right and I don’t know how fit he'll be late but he’s ready to go,” Opetaia said.
“Street Of Dreams was going really well and won two in a row at Wenty. He's had a couple of looks at Dubbo so it's not completely new to him and he’s rock hard fit," he added.
"Spring Meteor might not be quite fit enough for a 500 yet, but in saying that, he broke the back section record in a trial on Saturday night. If he can spear out and do that again, maybe he’ll be a chance but he's up against She's A Pearl so she’ll be hard to roll."
"And Patriot ran second last year and has been going really well at Wenty. Last week he was in the Bob Payne Appreciation race and got smashed around which put him out of the race but Box 3 will help him in the heats and if he can get a clear run, he's got a massive finish and can let rip. I think all four of them can run 29.50."
The race has been won by the likes of Jungle Deuce, Caitlyn Keeping and Little Digger in the last decade, with the Smith and Paul Braddon kennels both dual winners of the event.
Dubbo will also host four heats of the $20,000-to-the-winner Peg & Bill Miller Memorial on Saturday night, with the mixed 0-2 win race over 516m created to honour the well-known and respected breeders and trainers.
The finals of both the Ladbrokes Brother Fox and Peg & Bill Miller Memorial will be held on Saturday, May 20.
Finals night will also feature the Feral Franky at Stud Future Star Final (4th/5th grade over 400m) and the Zipping Garth at Stud Mega Maiden Final (318m), with both races worth $10,000-to-the-winner.
