A last-minute decision could pay the ultimate of dividends when Saint Omagh takes his place in the Ladbrokes Zoom Top Maiden (440m) at Goulburn on Friday afternoon.
Trained locally by Denice Warren, Saint Omagh was an eleventh hour nomination in the $25,000-to-the-winner series, but you wouldn't have known it watching him, the son of Aston Rupee careering away for a 4¼ length heat success in 24.81.
Remarkably, the regally-bred debutant opened up at $6 in betting before drifting all the way out to $51 at jump time, largely due to the heavy support for runner-up Rue Deville.
"It really was a last-minute decision to go in the race at all," Warren said.
"When I saw they were a bit short on nominations I rang (owner) Peter (Stanford) and asked him if he was happy for him to have a run.
"He hadn't been in a field yet and I usually like to have my dogs totally tuned up for a race like this but Peter agreed so we put him in for the experience.
"I was glad when he drew wide and he went really well. He trialled 25.01 the week before and the track was a few tenths off so I thought he'd be around the mark.
"He'll improve off the heat run – he's a nice little dog with a bright future I think. I'm just hoping he draws wide again in the final."
Saint Omagh will serve as something of a handy stand-in for Warren in Friday's Zoom Top decider after being forced to scratch her number 1 seed Gold Force in the countdown to the heats.
When markets first opened for the rich maiden series, a tsunami of money came for the son of Aussie Infrared and Silver Scissors which had been burning up the track in trials.
Gold Force and his litter brother Dark Asset, winner of the last race at Goulburn on Friday, were purchased by top harness racing owner Mick Crooks for Warren to train earlier this year.
"I'd been looking for a dog for Mick for about 18 months," Warren said.
"The opportunity came for him to buy these two pups and Mick got the deal done.
"Gold Force can run 24.40 with a 10.80 split – he's a very, very smart dog. But he's got a bit of a tendon issue so I had to take him out of the heats which was unfortunate.
"He's 39 kilos so I'm just going to turn him out for a month and bring him along slowly. Mick's been great and very patient, we both just want what is right for the dog."
Standing in the way of Warren and victory in Goulburn's flagship maiden on Friday is a strong field headlined by Andy Lord's fastest qualifier Joey The Jet (Feral Franky x Paua Of Janie) which ran 24.61 in an impressive display.
Heat two was won by Cluster One (Collision x Nino De Oro) in 24.91 while Scatter Dunn (Aussie Infrared x Nikolina) was another to land a heat at $51 in 24.79.
The all-important box draw will be conducted tomorrow (Tuesday).
