Put yourself in the shoes of trainer Tomas Rees and owner Paul Ballantine for a second.
You’ve got a talented young dog in your kennel named History’s Coming. He’s won six of eight career starts at Bulli and clocked a time of 25.92 over the 472m only a week ago. That time is faster than all but one of the last 10 Bulli Gold Cup final winners, albeit he did it in far weaker company. (Castle Warrior went 25.89 in 2022).
The dog then trialled 15.74 over the 280m at Wentworth Park on Friday night (the track record is 15.72) and he is age eligible for the Group 1 Ladbrokes National Derby Heats. But he has never raced at Wentworth Park or been over 500m.
Do you nominate him for one of greyhound racings most revered prizes? Or continue to work your way through the grades with February’s Group 2 Bulli Gold Cup the eventual target?
That’s the dilemma Rees and Ballantine faced this week as they mulled over the decision to throw their promising pup into the biggest race of his life.
“He’s yet to run over more than 472m but after looking back at the nature of his victories, coupled with that scintillating trial performance at Wentworth Park, Tommy [Rees] and I both agree we’ve seen enough to throw him in. He’s going to the Derby,” Ballantine said.
The son of Aston Dee Bee and Ballantines 17-time winning bitch, Furious Not Fast, set to line up in Heat 2 of the $75,000-to-the-winner feature on Friday Night.
Now on a collision course with some of the best and brightest young talent in the country including recent Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup winner Good Odds Cobber.
“It was a tough decision. Initially we didn’t want to put him in against dogs who have been seen the track a number of times in case he got knocked around because that can undo a dog. But he’s definitely got the ability,” Ballantine added.
“He’s come home in 11.50 in a post to post at Wentworth Park so we’re pretty hopeful he’ll run the trip. I still think he’s a bit underdone and will get tired in that last 50m or so, but whatever he does this Friday night, he’ll improve out of sight.”
“We could hold him back and wait for other races, but you’ve also got to live in the moment when it’s there. You only get one crack at these age events and if he fails, we will just push onto the Bulli Gold Cup.”
The Ballantine breed known to mature and improve with racing, which makes History’s Coming’s several BOD performances even more impressive considering he doesn’t turn two until April.
History's Coming's only two career defeats came at the hands of Speedy Pie in his first two starts
The exciting prospect giving Tomas Rees reason to believe he can mature into a star of the chasing scene.
“He’s got the potential to go all the way this dog. He’s shown in his early starts that he’s a smart greyhound and hopefully he develops into really, really good one,” Rees proclaimed.
The Grose Wold-based trainer also confident Wentworth Park will bring out the best in his charge after some sluggish starts at Bulli.
“He hasn’t really taken to the silent lure at Bulli yet so if you watch his replays, he’s a bit slow away at times and that’s not the case at Wenty Park and Gosford where he has jumped really well.”
“I educated him at Wenty a bit and he didn’t look like he’d run 500 early days but now he’s a big strong animal. It’s exciting to have a dog like this and people have been watching him progress so I’m really keen to see how he can go.”
History’s Coming’s litter sister, Hurricane Reign, is also set to go around in the Heats of the Group 1 National Futurity on the same night.
While the duo’s brother, Ballow’s Twitch, won well on debut at Goulburn last Friday for Mick Hardman, stopping the clock in 19.72 for the 350m.
“I’ve known Paul for 15 years and he’s a good judge of a dog,” Hardman said.
“Paul recommended that his niece, Taryne Azzopardi, send Ballow’s Twitch to me and he’s certainly a 500m dog but I thought I’d start him off over the shorts. I expected him to run really well and he ran home in 13.13 today which shows he’s looking for more ground and is a serious dog.”
Five Heats of the 2024 Group 1 Ladbrokes National Derby will be run at Wentworth Park on Friday, January 12. The winner from each Heat and the three fastest seconds will progress to the $75,000 final on January 20.
