Crump Egg-Bound After Impressive Horsham Cup Win
Sometimes, irrespective of their ability, certain greyhounds are continually unlucky. Some will never earn a record befitting their actual talent.
Crump's barnstorming, track-record win in Saturday's Group Two Horsham Cup was not only a fulfilment of a very fast greyhound's promise, but it was also a victory that was well and truly deserved.
The son of Superman and Mon Cherie (Spiral Nikita – Herron Quay), unleashed a soul-stirring finishing burst to win the race by running down Innocent Til. He also set a new track record for the 480 metre journey, a record which was set way back in 2004 by Crash, making the feat all the more impressive.
Crump's trainer Troy Iwanyk told ARG that the win has virtually removed two monkeys from the back of his 35kg black chaser and that he was a dog that has genuinely earned both accolades.
“It all went to plan for once which was good. He was very much deserving of the win, he's been in six Group finals and hasn't had much luck in any of them,” he said.
“He deserved the win next to his name. He has been close to a lot of track records as well, so he probably deserved to have one of them next to his name too.”
When Crump entered the straight two lengths behind the classy Innocent Til, it was always going to be touch-and-go as to whether he could reel in Jason Thompson's flyer.
“I wasn't sure if he was going to get Innocent Til. He looked like he was getting there, but I just wondered if he was going to get there in time.”
“I was hopeful as they came down the straight and that hope grew as they got closer to the line, I was just worried that the line didn't come to soon.”
“We have huge respect for Innocent Til and knew they would be going very fast up front, particularly right on the arm and we knew we would have a battle on our hands. But we also knew how strong my boy was and thought that if there was any dog in the race that could do it, he was probably the one.”
Iwanyk has enjoyed a rich vein of success since he arrived in Victoria back in 2010. He admits that rating all the different major wins against each other is an impossible task, but is certainly full of praise for Crump's achievements last Saturday.
“It is hard to compare the Group wins that I have had in Victoria, but I have to rate it pretty highly. The run itself was full of merit, it's not like he has run down a fifth-grader, he has run down a very talented dog. He did it off the track almost the whole way and broke the track record which has been there for ten years, so it is an almighty effort to do what he did.”
Iwanyk says Crump has earned himself a crack at one of the richest races in the country after his impressive Horsham victory, with the plans now being to head to Wentworth Park for the Group One Golden Easter Egg.
“He will probably have a run around Victoria this week somewhere and we will probably then take him up to Sydney to trial him in preparation for the Egg.”
With some favourable draws and a bit of luck in the running, you just never know, we may well see a big black dog named Crump thundering down the outside to claim a Group-One win at the harbour-side venue on Easter Saturday night.