Elson thrilled with ‘ideal’ Gold Bullion draw for Hello Mike
Even if Travis Elson had X-ray vision and could determine the future, he could not have arranged a better box draw for Hello Mike heading into the Gold Bullion Final at Albion Park on Thursday night.
The Yandina trainer was not only delighted his young dog picked up the No.2 lane, but four of Queensland's top greyhounds were all drawn from box five outward.
They were De Ferran, Hara's Herbie, Jay Is Jay and Shipwreck.
That is without mentioning his two-year-old is undefeated in three starts from the second position.
His last start there, Hello Mike produced a scorching 29.49-second effort over the same 520m distance to win by 7 ¾ lengths on December 15.
Albion Park R10 replay | 15/12/2022 | Hello Mike (1st)
It is little wonder, then, that Elson's talented sprinter is the $2.80 favourite across betting sites for this week's Group 1 sprint worth $359,375.
And punters might find good value in those odds because Elson said the draw was “ideal”.
“It's probably the best chance he's going to get with the box draw he got,” he told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“I think he's drawn ideal, to be honest. It's his pet box, that box-two second line.
“There are a couple of good wide runners, but when we drew inside them I was very happy.
“If you asked me how I'd like to do the box draw myself and pick it out, it's probably just how it is.”
Hello Mike ran an impressive time of 29.73 seconds last Thursday night, the second-fastest Gold Bullion heat behind Hara's Herbie (29.64).
He was strong from the moment he stepped out of the boxes, running the best first sectional of 5.50 seconds.
Hello Mike's back and home straight efforts were also strong, allowing him to beat $2.15 winning chance Shipwreck by 4 ¼ lengths.
“That's his racing pattern. If he gets in front, he's good across the three sections,” Elson said.
Apart from two consecutive runs over 30 seconds this month, Elson is happy with Hello Mike's form heading into Thursday night's final.
“He's been good. The couple of bad runs (since his 29.49-second effort last month) that he's had were from wide boxes,” he said.
“But he likes to be one, two or three. And two is perfect for him.
“To draw box one in the heat, and then box two in the final it's worked out pretty good for us.
“He's only a light little dog and around that 28.8kg mark he races really well.”
Elson set his sprinter with nine wins from 24 starts for the Gold Bullion.
“This is his grand final and what we prepped him for. If he goes well in this we'll give him a little break,” he said.
“Albion Park shuts down for 10 days next month, so that might give me a chance to take him and trial him somewhere like Wentworth Park.”