Dyna Tron And Spring Gun Get Best Of Brisbane Cup Draw
In what is shaping up to be one the highlight races of the year, the box draw for the 2011 Sky Channel Group 1 Brisbane Cup final has been released.
After overcoming box seven to land the Melbourne Cup last month, Dyan Tron again looks hard to beat after coming up with the coveted rails alley. Starting a very short favourite in last Thursday's heat, Dyna Tron began well and accounted for his rivals easily in 30.04.
Despite the amazing recent form line, the Andrea Dailly trained Dyna Tron has had the rough end of box draws recently. His last four wins (all feature events) have been from box four and outwards, and his record from the pole position is impeccable, winning four from six attempts.
The race is certainly far from cut-and-dry however, as NSW star sprinter Spring Gun has drawn right along side in box two. This will make the charge to the first bend something to behold, and could mean trouble if lady luck doesn't smile. Spring Gun is coming off an excellent win in the Vic Peters, and led all the way again in his heat. While the first sectional of 5.71 was slower than Dyna Tron (5.63), his overall time of 29.98 measured up as the best of the night, making it tough to split the duo.
Bekim Bale again looks to need a bit of luck in a feature, as the yellow vest will be worn come Thursday night. No-one can possibly doubt the ability of this youngster after he made up a ton of ground to win at his Albion Park debut. After finding trouble around the first bend, the son of Bartrim Bale took until the final turn to get into second spot before hurtling towards the line to win by a nose. His first sectional of 5.83 is far from ideal, however it is not the worst in the field and if the breaks go his way, it would surprise no-one to see him land his first group one.
Everybody loves to see a champ defend his title, and He Knows Uno will be looking to do just that when he lines up from box seven. Those with good memories will remember that he started from box eight when running down Octane Show in the 2010 version, so the draw is no concern, and it is hard to ignore both his impressive heat run and imposing record at the track. Obviously he will be giving some mighty dogs a big head start, but rest assured that no-one finishes harder up Albion Park straight than He Knows Uno.
In an incredibly open final, a greyhound who has won 33 races and over $430,000 in prizemoney could start on the fourth line of betting. Early markets have super chaser Radley Bale at around the 6/1 quote which demonstrates that box six may be considered a concern, and that his best may be past him.
That's a little hard to imagine for those that saw his heat win, where he dispatched of a high-balling Iso Octane in 30.03. It seems the main area of hesitation for punters is the first turn, where he is likely to find himself midfield and wide. Obviously luck will play a part, but saying he is capable of winning this event is simply stating the obvious.
The three greyhounds not given a genuine winning hope appear to be Glen Gallon (box three), Radical Dos (box four) and Mercy Rule (box eight).
Glen Gallon actually won his heat over He Knows Uno in 30.03 (identical time to Radley Bale, and quicker than Dyna Tron) and has a 29.79 PB from earlier in the year. He may get a charmed run behind the two quick breakers and represents value at double figures.
Radical Dos and Mercy Rule were both narrowly beaten at cricket score odds last week, so logically the starting price will increase for the final. On times, both are capable of matching motors with this field, but are ordinarily drawn and face large class rises to the opposition seen recently.
Should a listed runner not be able to fulfill its duties, both Iso Octane and Bogie King will be looking to bound of the reserves bench and land another local victory.
2011 Sky Channel Brisbane Cup Final
1) Dyna Tron (Vic)
2) Spring Gun (NSW)
3) Glen Gallon (QLD)
4) Radical Dos (QLD)
5) Bekim Bale (Vic)
6) Radley Bale (Vic)
7) He Knows Uno (QLD)
8) Mercy Rule (QLD)
Reserves
9) Iso Octane (QLD)
10) Bogie King (QLD)