Plum Tuckered wins again in near track record time at Townsville
Plum Tuckered came within a whisker of beating the track record at Townsville last week, with her trainer sounding off the warning that her best is yet to come.
Trained by Danny Preh out of his Kelso kennel, Plum Tuckered started in the 380m 4th grade race on Friday night as the +100 favourite with online greyhound bookmakers.
At box rise, she jumped to sit second from box two, and with the inside rails running, she stormed up to pass the leader, Pacific Holly, as they turned the bend.
Plum Tuckered kicked away into the straight to beat Pacific Holly by 4.75 lengths, smashing the clock in 21.40.
Townsville 4th Grade 380m Oct. 13, 2023 – Plum Tuckered (21.40) T: Danny Preh
The winning time put Plum Tuckered only 0.02 off the current track record of 21.38, clocked by Senor Yogi last month on September 12.
Co-owner Luke Harm said he was impressed with the performance.
“It was a solid come from behind victory for her and she seems to be improving at 380m,” he said.
“She's not a super-fast beginner normally anyway, but to come from so far back and only miss it by 0.02 is impressive.
“To be honest, she's only been running at 380m to keep her fitness levels up and she's better suited to 498m.
“With her record at 380m now at five starts for four wins and a second placing, it might be tough to change her back to 498m.
“But the test will come when she races against the likes of Paulie Walnuts and current track record holder Senor Yogi.
“Based on how she's going, you'd have to think she'll be thereabouts.”
Fellow co-owner Andy Woodford echoed Harm's comments.
“I thought the run was phenomenal,” Woodford said.
“She still isn't totally nailing the starts either and again brushed with the leader when driving to the front.
“So, to only miss the record by 0.02 is exciting.
“The run-home of the race was 14.00, and Wendy was about 2.5L off the leader at the sectional peg.
“So that puts her run home at 13.85, which is just insane.
“We always thought she had the ability to give the record a nudge.
“All the credit has to go to Danny.
“We sent her up to him back in August where her head space just wasn't there and she wasn't chasing hard when in behind other dogs.
“Certainly not the case now,” said Woodford.
Trainer Preh is no stranger to training track record holders, having trained Group 3 Townsville Cup place-getter Tipsy Four, who held the record with a 21.42 run on December 19, 2020.
Tipsy Four retired in January 2021, as the most successful chaser that Preh has ever trained with a career of 18 wins and 48 minor placings from 124 career starts with a prize money pool of $61,660; an amount that Plum Tuckered is edging closer towards having earned $43,890 for connections.
Preh told Australian Racing Greyhound that if ‘Wendy', as Plum Tuckered is affectionately known, were to break the record it would mean everything to the team.
“It would be amazing,” Preh said.
“Before Tipsy broke it, I was talking with part-owner Dean Dunleavy on the phone, and we were saying, ‘wouldn't it be good if ‘Betty' could just jump and ping to the lead?
“To show what she actually could do, and that same day she did just that.
“That's what we want to see from ‘Wendy'.
“If she could jump and have a clear run, well, that would be interesting.”
Plum Tuckered is from a 2021 litter of nine out of Crazy Bonnie and by Fernando Bale, which has produced the Jamie Hosking-trained pair of Samurai Mind and Oh Minnie, who have both surpassed $40,000 in prize money.
With a career of 11 wins and nine placings from 35 career starts, Preh said she will be aimed for the QGold heats at Townsville to be run on October 24.
She will have another start at the same Townsville track and trip on Tuesday night, having drawn the one box against a field that includes Max Gambles, along with the Brad Belford-trained New To Me at her 80th career start.
With plenty more racing left in the handy bitch and with speed and ability to match, Preh said that he was impressed with where she was but also gave a warning to her future opposition.
“Her head is in a happy place, and that's a really big thing for us.
“The scary part is that she has not fully matured yet and is only going to get better.”