Cosmic Wise Wright In Contention For Cup Glory
The Jeff Britton– trained Cosmic Wise may be the rank outsider in this Friday’s Group One Melbourne Cup, but that won’t stop her part owner, Justin Wright, from making the trip across Australia to watch her compete in the $420,000 to the winner event.
Wright lives in Western Australia and made the trip to Melbourne last week to experience the excitement of Melbourne Cup heat night, but he never imagined he would making the same journey two weeks in a row.
“I have a couple of days of work and then I am back in Melbourne again. I had organised the trip a while ago because it is always a good night of racing with the heats of the Melbourne Cup and Bold Trease but to have one in a heat, let alone win one, was just unbelievable”, Wright enthused.
“I knew she would be nominated for the heats, it was a case of whether or not she was going to be lucky enough to gain a start. Thankfully she won a prelude the week before so she was guaranteed a start.
“When I saw the box draw and knew that she had drawn box one I actually gave her a chance of winning it.”
Beginning well from the inside, Cosmic Wise railed beautifully through the first turn and was too strong in the run to the line, scoring by one and three quarter lengths in a hot 29.40. Wright concedes that she will face a tough task this week with everything against her from box five.
“Box one helped her last week and I would imagine the track was a bit quicker than it normally is but we were still chuffed with how she went.
“It will be very different this week and I don’t think she has the pace to beat the other seven to the first corner.
“There is going to be a lot of early speed and she is a mad railer, she will look for the rails straight out of the boxes. I reckon her only hope is if she misses it a little bit and then goes straight to rail and if there is a little bit of trouble on the corner that she can rail up underneath.
“It is going to be tough but you have got to be in it to win it. She will give 100% and whatever happens, happens.”
Cosmic Wise has been a terrific money spinner for connections as a winner of 20 races from 59 starts with 18 minor placings.
“She has been pretty versatile, she runs a good 600 but she still managed to make the final of the Healesville Cup over 350 metres.
“She is probably not the fastest greyhound going around but she is very competitive and she tries her heart out every single week.”
Wright owns Cosmic Wise as a part of the Brona Lane Racing Syndicate. Made up of seven former workmates, the syndicate purchased Cosmic Wise’s mother with a career in the breeding barn always planned.
“Wise Penny came up for sale and I really liked her breeding so we decided to have a crack. She went alright on the track, she won over 640 metres, and when she retired we decided to breed from her as a syndicate.
“We bred the litter over here in WA and my wife Debbie reared them until they were five or six months old. At that time we didn’t have enough connections over here so we decided to have the rearing finished off in Victoria.”
After the Cosmic Chief– Wise Penny litter were broken in, their breaker Kevin McNamara contacted successful duo Jeff Britton and Angela Langton as potential trainers for the syndicate.
“Initially Jeff and Angela were only going to take four from the litter, they weren’t going to take Cosmic Wise or Wise Ella because they actually broke in the worst.
“Jeff saw them trial and decided to have a crack with them as well and now she (Cosmic Wise) has won over $100,000 and Wise Ella has won about $50,000.”
And Wright cannot speak highly enough of Britton and Langton who have enjoyed a terrific year on the track with their talented team of chasers. .
“Jeff and Angela work hard. I just spent five or six days with them and the hours they put in is unbelievable and on top of that they are great people. They deserve to have a year like they have had this year.”
For a bunch of average guys from three hours west of Perth, having a competitor in the world’s richest greyhound race is nothing short of amazing. ‘Unbelievable’ was the word used by Wright to describe the whole exhilarating experience.
“It hasn’t really sunk in. I have always dreamed of having one in the Perth cup being from WA but to have one in the Melbourne Cup is just unbelievable. The rest of the guys in the syndicate are pretty excited about it too, some of them are coming over on Friday to watch her as well.
“For me personally to win it would just be incredible, I have always loved greyhound racing. The other guys from the syndicate are loving it now too and it would just be amazing to win it, I don’t think we would be sober for a few days afterwards!”
All the best of luck Justin if either your dog or Star Recall win I’ll be rapt being a West Australian that i’am Go the Sandgropers!!!!
All the best of luck Justin if either your dog or Star Recall win I’ll be rapt being a West Australian that i’am Go the Sandgropers!!!!