Shocking draw for a greyhound that Dave Smith has openly said cannot win a big race from the inside. Despite that, she did get the job done from the red last week, albeit in a field of five with vacant boxes in 3, 5 and 6. But expect her to use a bit of the track going around the horse shoe at Maitland.
She’s a pretty consistent bitch with 11 wins and 10 placings from 26 starts and she does bring winning form to the final with three victories on the bounce, but with two of the best beginners from the heats immediately to her outside, it looks like a tough ask for Sublime Ethics.
It’s a second straight Maitland Cup final appearance for Dave Smith and he’ll be hoping to improve on the sixth-placed finish of Got The Feature earlier this year.
Speared to the front in the heats and never looked back in a scintillating 24.72 run - the fastest of the six preliminaries.
Is enjoying a purple patch of form with five wins from his last seven starts and has been extremely versatile with victories over 450m at Maitland, 520m at Wenty Park, 525m at Wagga and 600m at Dapto. Only real ‘failure’ was running fifth in the Bidgee Cup decider a month ago.
Will more than likely need to lead Sublime Ethics to the first bend to avoid some interference, but if he can, he may be the beneficiary of the wide running Dave Smith runner and pinch a break approaching the home straight.
The trial whispers were that Big Frank Banner was flying and he proved them right in a strong 25.00 win in his heat of the Cup.
Second fastest first section of the finalists behind only Nangar Jim and if he can use that early pace to find the front from the draw, he could lead the field for a fair way. Looks destined to feel the impact of Sublime Ethics running up the track though.
He’s the youngest dog in the final field and will be trying to replicate the deeds of his father, Barry Snr, who won the Maitland Cup with Whatuira Banner in 2005.
Big Frank Banner salivating at the prospect of being a Group 2 winner
It’s been a massive few months for Scorching Boy and he chalks up another appearance in a country cup final after running third in the Bidgee Cup and seventh in the Goulburn Cup.
The 12-time winner ran a belter on debut at the track, overhauling speedster Nangar Jim in the shadows of the post to hand that chaser his first defeat at the Hunter circuit.
The expansive and lengthy Maitland straight certainly suiting Scorching Boy and allowing him plenty of time to wind up. His Box 4 record isn’t pretty though and he could be the meat in the sandwich if the early speed map plays out as we think.
One of several surprise winners in the heats but she had to do all the hard work from a wide draw to overhaul an early leader and then fend off the flying Zipping Caleb to earn her spot in her first feature final.
Hasn’t missed the frame in her last five starts and she’s versatile, racing at four different tracks in that spread of runs. Has won over 520m on several occasions so will be strong late once again.
The heat time of 25.11 probably won’t be enough to claim the final though so she’ll need to find a length or two and the sticky draw certainly doesn’t help her chances.
He’s one of the most promising of the finalists and is still scratching the surface of what he might be able to achieve.
Seems to love Maitland with four starts producing two wins and two runners-up finishes and was quick (24.79) in last week’s heat defeat behind Rampani.
The draw isn’t perfect with a stack of speed outside him but if he can get a cart into the home straight on the back of Nangar Jim or War Hawk, he may be a chance to overpower them late.
Was a MDC semi-finalist in October and has form around some top line non-graded chasers in the last few months and rarely runs a bad race.
Nad Al Sheba is named after the province trainer Peter Lagogiane was based in when living in the UAE
One of a few bolters in the field and gee it’d be a good story if Penny Hutchinson could claim her first Group final in her first Group race appearance with War Hawk.
Surprised a few last week with his bold front running effort and the time of 24.99 wasn’t anything to sneeze at considering it was the dogs first race start at the Maitland track and just his 15th career start.
Will cop a stack of pressure early from race favourite Nangar Jim on his outside but he’s quick early and is a big lump of a thing at 38kg so should be able to hold his line to the first turn.
Already War Hawk has won nine races for connections, but after debuting in last years Future Stars Maiden at the venue, it’d be a great full circle moment if he was able to claim this final.
The track/trip/box stats show he is super comfortable at this circuit and now that he’s found his alley, he gets a chance to claim his first feature race title.
He’s clearly the quickest greyhound in the field early on, so if he lands in front and burns them off around the bend, it could be a case of goodluck catching him.
The speed map is intriguing though. If Nangar Jim misses it at all, War Hawk (7) can go quick early, Rampani (2) flew the lids in the heats and Sublime Ethics (1) will be sure to drift up the track from the inside.
Scorching Boy nabbed Nangar Jim late in the heats but that was Jim’s first run for a few weeks so if he’s bounced out of it in good order, he deserves to be favourite.
Nangar Jim has only lost once in eight starts at the Maitland track over both the 400 and 450m trips
