Full Speed set to hit full throttle in Christchurch Futurity
FULL Speed (Bekim Bale x Culvie Magic Jan '16) justified his short priced favouritism on Thursday afternoon at Addington when recording a strong win in his heat of the Group 2 Christchurch Futurity (520m).
Drawn well out in box eight, Full Speed sat second behind the speedy Eyrewell Turbo (Cosmic Chief x Boostin' Mar '16) before finding the front around the home turn, kicking clear to win by three lengths in 30.24.
Trained by Bruce Dann, the black dog was the quickest of the four heat winners – the other heats were won by Dream Kay (Fabregas x Token Kay Nov '15) in 30.79, Opawa Purdie (Fabregas x Opawa Rosie Mar '16) in 30.65 and Perfect Result (Barcia Bale x Andrea Feb '16) in 30.46.
Dann said he was pleased with Full Speed's heat win, with the youngster constantly improving.
“He is a nice dog – he is still young and learning his way,” Dann told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“He is a Bekim Bale so he just keeps running along at high speed, he doesn't knock up like some of them do.
“He isn't foolproof at the start, but if he can get into a handy position there aren't too many dogs that can out-finish him.”
Full Speed has now won six of his 15 starts with four minor placings. He has really come of age recently, winning five of his past eight starts. Dann said the 32-kilogram chaser always showed a lot of ability – but it took him a while to put it all together on the race track.
“Right from when we broke him in he looked special. I told the owner back then he had a pretty smart pup, but I know there are plenty of fast trial dogs out there which can't put it together on race day.
“Like most dogs you teach them what to do at break in – but like people some are slow learners. He took a few starts to really get the hang of it, but he seems to have figured it out now and he is going well.
“Hopefully he can turn into a decent dog which can be competitive in the top races.”
Owned by Dann and breeder Ray Amer, Full Speed will have to overcome box five to win this Thursday's $26,430 feature.
“Box five isn't ideal – if he gets a couple of knocks early and the good dogs get away from him he could find it to hard to pick them up.
“But if he gets clear room early and can find a nice spot he will be hard to beat.”
Dann, who has 14 greyhounds in work at his Rakaia property, has been training now for close to three decades. He says he has had plenty of handy dogs over the years which all started with a handy brindle dog named Vanishing Point.
“I was playing snooker with a fella and he told me to get a greyhound – I asked him why would I want one of those ugly things?
“But the kids were after a pet so we ended up getting a greyhound and he turned out to be a bit of a star.
“His name was Vanishing Point and as a pup he used to come to work with me every day. He used to run around with the Alsatians and back then I used to run 50 or 60 miles a week and he'd come out and run around the roads with me.
“After that I was hooked and the rest is history.”
The Group 2 Christchurch Futurity is race 10 at Addington on Thursday night and will jump at 8.14pm local time.