Three Victorians, two sisters, a couple of Sultanas and a Dubbo President. That’s the diverse make-up of the field for the Group 1 Ladbrokes Megastar Final after four heats were run at Dapto on Thursday night.
With the lure of a semi-final berth in the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase for the first three in the Megastar Final the heats attracted some talented locals as well as some very handy interstate greyhounds.
The Victorians Stealth and Umberto for Jason Thompson and Afire for Jason Sharp, the sisters, Mortified and Quantifiable for local trainer Chris O’Brien, the Sultanas – Sam and Vic – both winning with Bailey Bear and Remember This, plus Return Mac for Dubbo trainer and that club’s President Shayne Stiff, make up the field for next Thursday’s $75,000 feature.
It had been an anxious week for Chris O’Brien. The star of his kennel Mortified was set for her first run back after four months sidelined with injury, and while he hoped she might be somewhere near her best, he knew that she hadn’t worked a lot of late, but she managed to show she really was “something special” with an impressive 29.62s heat win.
“It’s been a long wait, and you have to be patient, and you’ve got to look after them, but she’s pretty special,” O’Brien said. “She’s had a few (trial) runs here but she hasn’t had much work.
“I thought she would be short of a run here as she’s had a few little issues so she hasn’t done much for 10 days, but if she pulls up alright, that run will do her good.”
Joining Mortified in the final was runner-up Return Mac for Stiff, who despite his dog running a very slick 5.35s early, leading until down the back and boxing on well to hold second 3¾ lengths behind the winner, realises his dog won’t be fancied, but he’s ticked the first box of making the final field.
“He hasn’t been here for a long time but he’s just a really honest dog who gives 120 per cent where ever he goes,” Stiff said. “I wish I had a few more like him in the kennel.
“He tries his heart out, and he might be making the numbers up (in the final) but you can’t win them if you aren’t in them”
Victorian Umberto was the first of Thompson’s qualifiers after clocking a slick 5.39s early and leading until the final stride when grabbed by the Sam Sultana-trained Bailey Bear in heat two, going under by a head in 29.49s, the fastest of the four heats.
Sultana, who finished third with Yuko Girl in last year’s Megastar, and whose daughter Kristy won the event in 2020 with Flying Ricciardo, was confident once Bailey Bear began well and was able to get on the back of the leader.
“He was well drawn tonight and I knew he would be coming home, he’s a very strong dog,” Sultana said.
Caretaker trainer Peter Lagogiane has had Umberto (trained by Thompson) in his kennel for the past two weeks and is certain the run on Thursday night will do the dog the world of good heading into next week’s final.
“His sections were unbelievable. He was a run short but we said his goal is next week and well have him ready for that,” Lagogiane said.
There was more Sultana success in the following heat when Sam’s brother Vic’s Remember This led throughout to score in 29.66s.
Remember This is a daughter of Fernando Bale and Sky Wave, the bitch Vic had much success with around five years ago.
Sky Wave finished third in the inaugural 2018 Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase, and was also a finalist in the 2018 Megastar won by Zipping Tayla.
“She’s reasonably strong, and she did well tonight,” Vic said of the win.
Another Victorian qualified for the final when Afire, winner last week of the Speed Star at Sandown, was a gallant second just half a length behind Remember This.
Trainer Jason Sharp travelled up from Melbourne this morning, and confirmed it was his dog’s first look at the Dapto circuit.
“It was pretty much a last-minute decision to come up,” Sharp said. “We were a little bit shocked winning the Speed Star last week and thought we would either go to Adelaide for a trial or here and go after this race and the Million Dollar Chase.
“We only came up this morning, and he hadn’t had a look at the track and he goes better second time a track so that’s hopefully what will happen next week.”
Thompson’s second finalist came through and impressive performance from Stealth jumping fast and leading throughout to score in 29.65s.
“I should do this caretaking thing more often,” Lagogiane said. “This bloke trialled a little bit better than Umberto, this bloke is a true professional. You saw him come out and he just kept going.”
Asked if Stealth will also be better for the run, he said: “They haven’t had a 500m for a couple of weeks. Jason had a plan in place, he trialled them before they came to me, short little trials. He’s a master trainer, we just follow what he says and hopefully I can bring them back next week and they can do what they did this week.”
Having two finalist in his local feature is special for O’Brien who had Mortified’s sister Quantifiable qualify after a moderate getaway in the final heat.
“She has to get that out of her system,” he said of the slowish start. “It’s a bad habit she’s picked up. Normally she flies out but I’ll give her a bit of box work this week.
