Borat Briliant At Canberra
It was no surprise to Sydney trainer John Carruthers when his greyhound Borat won his heat of the National Capital Distance Championship (600m) at Canberra last night.
The Group1-winning dog, a $1.90 favourite, was coming off consecutive wins and gave supporters little reason for concern.
Despite jumping only moderately Borat, who started from box eight, cruised to the lead passing the finishing line the first time and was never headed. He held on to win running 34.69 by 2.25 lengths from Proven Wiz, while Princess Bale was another 1.5 lengths away in third place.
Borat will return to Canberra next week to contest the final.
”They were all pretty strong heats tonight so to win the way he did was fairly impressive,” Carruthers said.
”I expected him to run well, assuming he wasn't hassled in the run which he wasn't.
”He got out wide and didn't cop a bump at all and generally when he has an incident-free run like that he hits the line really strongly.”
Last night's win was Borat's 17th from 34 starts. His biggest victory was three months ago in the Group1 National Derby at Wentworth Park.
Borat will jump from box three in Sunday night's National Capital Distance Championship final, which will earn the winning trainer $6000 plus a Toledo Trailer valued at $5500.
Other heat winners were Sweet Fancy in 34.90, Bo Frazier who overcame a troubled run to win in 34.80 and Dana Gretel in 34.84.
The final is made up from the top two runners from last night's four heats. The next two fastest place-getters are the two emergencies.
Toledo Trailers National Capital Distance Championship Final
Canberra, ACT.
No.NameGradeFormBestLastTrainer
1Bo Frazier1 34.8034.80David Geall
2Dana Gretel2 34.8434.84Wes McDonald
3Borat1 34.6934.69John Carruthers
4Sweet Fancy1 34.9034.90Ann Barnes
5Eluthra2 Doreen Drynan
6Proven Wiz4 John McClelland
7Dizzy Rascal5 Chryl Divirgilio
8Not Cheap3 Leslie Mtichell
9Princess Bale3 Christopher Nutt
10Talk's Cheap2 John Carruthers
Courtesy : Peter Fitzgerald, The Canberra Times