El Galo A Short Favourite To Win 2009 Adelaide Cup
The semi winners were Very Cool – 30.27, El Galo – 29.51, Oval Avenue – 30.42, Proven Polly – 29.54.
El Galo will start a warm favourite next week after he began very quickly, recording a brilliant 4.41 seconds to the winning post and then running quickly overall.
While kennelmate, Proven Polly was most impressive in beating local hope Quinton Bale and she ran only fractionally slower than El Galo.
What was most impressive in her run was her 12.63 run home, nearly 3 lengths quicker than the last section for he kennelmate.
Quinton Bale ran second to qualify after he and proven Polly were together early, but lost some ground when she crossed him going into the pen the first time.
Local star Scull Murphy looked in danger of missing the final when slow early in the third semi.
He came from a long way back and powered home behind Oval Avenue to sneak into the field.
Oval Avenue, named after the sight of Woodville Oval (home of the Eagles), gave trainer Rob Harnas, two qualifiers after he also qualified Drink Driver, which ran second two Very Cool in the first semi.
- The 2009 Group 1 Adelaide Cup Final Field (not in box order):
- Very Cool – Tony Fergusson
- Drink Driver – Rob Harnas
- El Galo – Jason Thompson
- Tashy Boy – Clinton Trengove
- Oval Avenue – Rob Harnas
- Scull Murphy – Bob Isaacson
- Proven Polly – Jason Thompson
- Quinton Bale – Shaun Matcott
- Senni Pie (Res.) – Colin Swain
- Brer Fox (Res.) – Todd Kelly
The box draw for next week's Final will take place on Saturday night at the South Australian Greyhound of the Year Dinner at Angle Park. Sky Channel will be taking some footage of the box draw during the night.
The 2009 Sky Channel Adelaide Cup Final carries a total purse of $80,000. Racing on Thursday commences at 6.25pm. The Cup will be race nine and is listed to jump at 9.30pm.