Rockhampton greyhound preview, racing tips & odds | Wednesday, 23/8/23
Rockhampton is set to host a 12-race program on Wednesday night from 6:57PM local time. The meeting is headlined by two heats of the Rockhampton Young Guns set to be run over 407m. Promising youngsters Phantom Star, Mark Sure Can, and Mr O’Sullivan will be looking to qualify for next week’s final.
Best Bet: Skill Set (Race 6)
Team Thompson has a strong hand in this fifth-grade 510m contest with market-top elects Skill Set and Zulu Joy. Despite not winning out of turn, Skill Set has quite a handy resume and appears to have a nice map on paper. The son of Hostile has only won five races from 38; however, he has shown his consistency over the Rockhampton 510m with a record of 12: 2-5-4. His best time of 29.78 dwarfs his rivals, and his prior form behind Sir Banjo and City Way is by far the strongest. Shanti, drawn inside him, is stepping up from 407m and is sure to contest the lead, which will give Skill Set a perfect cart into the first bend. Given that he finds a position in the first two to three runners, he is strong enough to run down this opposition.
Best Bet
Race 6 – 
Skill Set (5)
Form: 563227 | Career: 36: 5-10-8 | Trainer: Juanita Thompson
Next Best: Little Spyro (Race 4)
Last heat of the 2023 Rockhampton Young Guns, where the Dallas Beckett trained Little Spyro appears hard to beat. The daughter of Speed Star x Little Bertha has been racing consistently since returning from a four week spell in late June. In this time, she has faced the starter on six occasions, recording three wins, while her prior 11 starts only brought in one victory. She is drawn perfectly in box one and has an outstanding map, with a vacant box in box two and Sober Meredith drawn in box three, who is a noted wide runner. Expect Little Spyro to punch up on the inside and look the winner a long way from home.
Next Best
Race 4 – 
Little Spyro (1)
Form: 116134 | Career: 17: 4-4-4 | Trainer: Dallas Beckett
Best Value: Italian Steal (Race 9)
Open affair where Italian Steal appears to be the forgotten runner. The son of Dyna Steal has only had one start over the past eight weeks, finishing fifth to Akimbo in 24.02. On this occasion, Italian Steal began well for his standards and was subject to a heavy check, which could explain his month-long absence since. Prior to this, he raced against the likes of Legendary Spyro and Ninety Mile Rocks, who have both turned out to be handy chasers. Both Velocity Nora and Righteous Bale had every chance to win their most recent start but came away running second. The pair is taking up too much market percentage while Italian Steal can surprise on return.
Best Value
Race 9 – 
Italian Steal (4)
Form: 243135 | Career: 23: 4-3-5 | Trainer: Keven Read
