Jury wins 2017 National Sprint Championship
QUEENSLAND has won the Group 1 National Sprint Championship for the first time since 2011, with Tony Brett's Jury (Cosmic Chief x Velocity Sheba Mar '15) leading all the way to defeat a star studded field at Albion Park on Friday night.
Jumping from box three, Jury got clear room to move in the early stages and quickly surged to the front in the run to the post, holding out Tasmanian Gold Lenny (Spring Gun x Marananga Moss Jan '15) and Victorian Aston Dee Bee (Barcia Bale x Aston Elle Apr '15) around the first turn.
#Queenslander Jury takes the @UBET 2017 National Sprint Final much to the delight of the local crowd at @BrisGreys for Tony Brett!
— Racing Queensland (@racing_qld) August 25, 2017
Down the back the local greyhound had kicked clear, but Aston Dee Bee began grinding back the margin and looked a big danger.
However, swinging for home Jury kicked again, surging clear of his rivals to score a two and a half length win over South Australian On Fire (Bekim Bale x Alana Blues Dec '14), with Aston Dee Bee filling the trifecta back in third.
Clocking 29.88 for the 520m trip, Jury has now won 10 races from 19 starts with a further four placings, his prize money earnings now in excess of $125,000 for Brett and his owners, the Velocity Lodge Syndicate which is run by Steve Williams.
Jury is the first Queenslander to win the National Sprint Championship since 2011 when the event was taken out by Metz Magic.