Cindy Keeping threw down a gauntlet as she ran the arms off the clock in a superb Ladbrokes Chief Havoc Cup heat win at Gunnedah on Sunday.
The CharmaineRoberts-trained runner greeting the judge in 29.77, just two lengths outside the track record held by the great Feral Franky.
The next best time on the card was a 30.15 effort clocked by eventual heat runner-up Miss Zig Zag.
“She’s always been able to run, she gets around Dubbo in 29.3 but she’s just hard to catch. Her whole litter is a bit inconsistent but she’s a good hard chaser and Miss Zig Zag [the early leader in the heat] goes OK so it was a nice win,” Roberts said.
The feat even more impressive considering it was Cindy Keeping’s first look at the track and she was on the quick backup after racing in the heats of the Flying Amy at Albion Park on Thursday.
“We were only taking Angus and Tom Keeping to Gunnedah initially but Shane [Stiff] was a bit disheartened after taking Cindy, Camilla, Candice and Zali’s [all with the Keeping prefix] up to Queensland,” Roberts added.
“Three of them were well back but Cindy’s Flying Amy run was huge. To run second and just miss out on the final was a super effort. And some of this litter’s best runs have been on the quick back up.”
“They wouldn’t blow a candle out after they run so once we got back, Shane said “do you want to just chuck them in at Gunnedah?”, and we did and two of them made the final.”
Camilla Keeping also triumphant in her heat to the tune of 30.38, albeit well outside her littermates BON effort.
“I know it might sound funny, but Camilla’s run might have been a bit better because she didn’t come out running and had to punch up on the fence,” Roberts said.
“I thought she was gone up the back because Embrace was chasing her and we know she’s strong, but our girl held on and yes, the time wasn’t as good, but it was freezing cold and wet, and I thought she ran a great race.”
Albert’s Memory (30.18) and Fancy Mal (30.33) claimed the other two preliminaries, with the box draw certainly making for an intriguing final.
“Cindy does prefer the outside, but we know good boxes win the good races so Box 6 isn’t ideal and I would have preferred Camilla on the fence instead of Box 7,” Roberts added.
“If Cindy comes out, she will be very hard to beat, but it’s a very short run to the first turn at Gunnedah so if you miss the kick, you’re out the back door.”
“Julia Bush and Franky Bear are good local dogs for Jamie Bush and they have good early speed so they could be hard to beat if they get away clean. You’d think Miss Zig Zag will improve and it’s got the inside. It’s a hard race and I couldn’t tell you who the favourite should be.”
Julia Bush (#3) was a runaway winner in last year's Gunnedah Greyhound Of The Year premiership and had 15 wins at the track in 2023
Gun local trainer Jamie Bush more hopeful than confident of taking out his hometown Cup.
“I just don’t think we’ve got enough horsepower to get there. Julia [Bush] cramped up a bit in the heats and she probably should have won. She’s been on the lead for the last 10 days and she can run 30.1 at her best so when she got to the front, I thought she was home,” Bush lamented.
“Hopefully we can put a bit more work into her before the final and if she can repeat her first two sections, she could lead them for a while.”
“And Franky Bear has only had a couple of goes over the 500 but he just struggles the last 100m. There’s going to be a lot of pressure into that first turn though, the run to the first mark is 3.5 seconds and at most tracks it’s around five or more, so it comes at you quick and hopefully we can avoid the whitewash.”
“Cindy Keeping can really run though and 29.77 out here is enormous. The dog of Sydney Swain’s [Miss Zig Zag] is no chump and Cindy Keeping picked it up like it was nothing so she’s the one to beat.”
The evergreen Embrace also made it through to another feature final for Craig Chappelow.
The 2022 Group 1 Peter Mosman Opal winner was having start number 83 for the kennel on Sunday but has already appeared in the Brother FOX (2nd), Ladies Bracelet (4th), Richmond Oaks (5th), Muswellbrook Cup (3rd) and Collerson (2nd) finals so far in 2024.
Embrace ran third in the 2023 Chief Havoc Cup behind Street Of Dreams.
The Listed Ladbrokes Chief Havoc Cup, worth $40,000 to the winner, will be run and won on Sunday, June 9.
