Bravo likens Paddy Wants Pats to ex-star ahead of Melbourne Cup
Kelly Bravo has compared Paddy Wants Pats’ starting ability to the great Striker Light ahead of the Melbourne Cup at Sandown on Saturday night.
But will it be enough for the star three-year-old to salute in a hot field from box eight?
The Freshwater Creek trainer admits he will have to run a near-perfect race to salute in the prestigious $650,000 to-the-winner feature over 515m.
Like 2017 Golden Easter Egg winner Striker Light, Paddy Wants Pats can seriously ping the lids.
Saturday’s $4.50 winning chance with betting sites ran the fastest first split of 5.01 seconds in his impressive heat time of 29.41 seconds last Saturday night.
2022 Melbourne Cup Heat 7 – El Dorado (2.35)
He had the benefit of box two then. He picked up the dreaded pink for Saturday night.
“He is pretty consistent early. He’s a lot like Striker Light. He doesn’t tend to mess up the start too much,” Bravo told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“I’m not sure how he’ll go out wide – it’ll be a pretty big task trying to cross from out there in that type of field.
“But hopefully he pings the lids and we’ll see what happens.
“He has won a lot of races from seven and eight. But I just think in that type of field, it’s going to be a big task.
“For everything to go his way, he has to do everything right and the other dogs have to do a bit wrong.
“But I definitely would have preferred him down near the fence.”
Bravo said she worked hard on turning Paddy Wants Pats into the excellent starter he now is.
And as a result, he boasts an impressive 19 wins from 49 career starts.
“As a younger dog he showed ability, but we did spend a lot of time doing box work with him because he was a little slow early,” she said.
“He wasn’t a brilliant box dog, where Striker Light was. But the more he matured the better he got.
“And now he’s pretty consistent.”
In an excellent career which has seen him pick up $238,750 in prizemoney to date, Bravo might soon make the call to retire Paddy Wants Pats to stud.
“Paddy will be moving onto The Phoenix after the Melbourne Cup,” she said.
“He’ll run for the Shayne Stiff and Martin Hallinan connection (Keeping/Zipping syndicate).
“If he’s lucky enough to win one of those he’ll probably finish his racing career and head to stud.”
Bravo said Plaintiff (box one) and Fernando Mick are among the dogs to beat on Saturday night.
“It’s a pretty hot field,” she said.
“He (Plaintiff) is the best-boxed dog in the race; he likes the fence and he’s got a good record from there.
“I think David Geall’s dog in box five probably holds a big key on how the race will pan out as well.
“The red dog is the best-boxed dog in the race.”
Bravo only has six kennels nowadays because of her focus on her daughter Bronte’s equestrian career.
The respected greyhound conditioner also competes herself, with Bruce Marsh the man who breaks in her horses.
“We don’t have a lot of dogs these days. My daughter is a professional rider now, so I spend a lot of time away with her on weekends,” Bravo said.
“That’s probably why we don’t have the big numbers that we used to have – it’s a bit of a life balance.
“But we’re busy between the dogs and the horses.
“We moved properties and we set up this property (at Freshwater Creek) for her. We had a bit of an ordinary season, with a couple of bad years because of COVID.
“And this year most of our events have been rained out. But she’s really looking forward to next year.
“They’ve scheduled a few extra events, so she’s pretty keen to get qualified. She does show a lot of potential.
“I spend more time with her these days, but I still do some low-level dressage comps and jumps.
“But nothing serious for me.”
With 19 horses to look after, Bravo’s world revolves around Bronte, and her dogs and horses.
Giving them her full attention and care is paramount to the success she has enjoyed over the years.
“To get the best out of them you’ve got to look after them. And everyone is striving to do that,” she said.
“With the horses, it’s exactly the same as the dogs. If they’re not fit and well looked after they don’t perform.
“And the greyhounds are exactly the same.
“As an industry it’s something everyone has to strive for, otherwise we are in a bit of trouble.”
Meanwhile, Bravo is hoping to see Big Bertha continue to improve after she finished fourth in the second Bold Trease heat last Saturday night.
The two-year-old bitch so far has six wins from 26 starts.
“She’s been lightly-raced as a stayer at this stage, but she’s showing some promise,” Bravo said.
“Just hoping for her to keep ticking along and finding those extra couple of lengths.
“She’s doing really well at the moment.”
2022 Group 1 Melbourne Cup Final Field Box DrawSandown Park515mGroup 1$650,000 to-the-winner
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1 Plaintiff
T: Jason ThompsonF: 2311Career: 31: 17-8-1
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2 Titan Blazer
T: Daniel GibbonsF: 6321Career: 56: 21-9-9
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3 Vice Grip
T: Adam SmithsonF: 2131Career: 81: 37-17-10
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4 Yachi Bale
T: Mark DelbridgeF: 4211Career: 21: 8-6-5
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5 Fernando Mick
T: David GeallF: 1411Career: 89: 30-16-15
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6 Zippy Tesla
T: Brad KeelF: 2161Career: 49: 15-14-7
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7 El Dorado
T: Daryl HolmesF: 5121Career: 33: 17-7-2
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8 Paddy Wants Pats
T: Kelly BravoF: 2811Career: 49: 19-6-5
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| Reserves | |
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9 Zara’s Ivan
T: Brad KeelF: 4662Career: 48: 12-8-6
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10 Amron Boy
T: Brooke EnnisF: 2512Career: 28: 11-7-1
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