Anthony Azzopardi says star pair Melbourne Cup bound
If all goes to plan, Anthony Azzopardi will have two competitive Melbourne Cup runners next month.
They were his thoughts after All Spritzed Up’s classy 1 ¼-length victory in the $70,335 Great Chase at The Meadows on Wednesday.
The highly promising two-year-old now with seven wins from 10 starts overcame a couple of early bumps to finish strongly and pass Like An Arrow late in the Group 3 feature over 525m, winning in 29.88 seconds.
Recap: All Spritzed Up wins Meadows feature The Great Chase
Azzopardi will now turn his attention to Deadly Class, which will line up from box seven in the Geelong Derby Heat 1 on Friday, as he looks to have two quality competitors in the $1 million Melbourne Cup on November 26.
“Exciting times. We’ve got a nice kennel at the moment, and we’ll see where it all leads,” he told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“He (Deadly Class) is in the Derby heats at Geelong on Friday. That’s going to be his prep for the Melbourne Cup.
“Melbourne Cup is definitely on the radar (for All Spritzed Up after his win on Wednesday). I’ll just see how he pulls up and we’ll make our minds up from there.
“I’ll sit down now and have a good think about it.”
There might not be too much for Azzopardi to ponder with All Spritzed Up – talked up as the “next big thing” – building nicely for his planned Cup assault.
“Pretty excited. It was a big relief. I really wanted to win for the owners (Scott James Syndicate), and especially for the Bendigo community,” he said, with disability group The Support People – based in Bendigo and Ballarat – randomly aligned with All Spritzed Up and earning $10,000 courtesy of the victory.
“It was a good day out.”
Even All Spritzed Up’s starts aren’t too much of a worry for Azzopardi at this stage in his young career, running a 5.17-second first split on Wednesday.
“He did miss the start today, but I don’t think he missed it terribly. Him and the four (Mepunga Raider) collided early and it looked worse than what it was,” he said.
“His worst section is his first section. That’s not going to change – that’s just the make-up of the dog.
“This is why you’ve got to rely on good box draws in finals with a dog like him.
“He’s got to use it to his advantage and get into a good position for the first turn, if he gets that luck.
“That’s just his make-up. The best I reckon I can get him to run is 5.10. That’s him.
“You can’t really train that in them – that’s just their racing pattern.”
After Azzopardi’s kennel star overcame some slight early push-and-shove – he also had a brief exchange with Elite Alex around the first turn – the race was as good as over.
The $2.45 favourite with greyhound betting sites moved up to just a length behind Like An Arrow for Vicki Wisener heading into the second turn, before breaking clear inside the final 25m.
“He’s got early pace, and he saw a little gap there (at the first turn) and used it to his advantage,” Azzopardi said.
“When he got to second only bad luck was going to beat him.
“His best parts are the second section and the run home.”