Graeme Bate Dominates The Horsham Cup Heats
When you're hot, you're hot… and the Lara kennel of Graeme Bate is white hot!
Hot on the heels of his Group 1 Australian Cup win with Velocette, Bate has qualified three finalists for the Group 2 Westside Tabaret Horsham Cup (480m) on Sunday.
Last night, Bate won the first three of five heats – Velocette (27.07sec), Jarvis Bale (27.32sec) and Taipan Bale (27.13sec). Other heat winners were Hanify's Impact (27.17sec) and Spiral Glory (27.25sec).
“Velocette is a terrific dog in great form, but Jarvis Bale may be a little too slow early to worry them,” Bate said.
And Bate is not phased that Taipan Bale will compete in two country cups around 30 hours apart.
Taipan Bale is also chasing back-to-back Healesville Cups on Saturday.
“I mistakenly thought the Healesville Cup was a Group 3 event and when Taipan Bale made the final, I contacted Greyhound Racing Victoria to scratch him from the Horsham Cup heats,” Bate said.
“However, the Healesville Cup has no Group race status and under the racing rules the scratching request was denied.
“I'm not worried as it's akin to his normal training routine… He'll be well looked after. “I remember my coursing quinella with New Beat and Perkins in the 1993 Waterloo Cup… They had five runs in two days, and that was a lot harder.”
Bate, who also prepares second reserve Kinka Bale, is attempting to snare his eighth Horsham Cup. His previous winners are Satan's Shroud (1982), Virgo Rose (1983), Propellant (1984), Hay Dinney (1988), Lansley Bale (1998), Kantarn Bale (2000) and Timjim Bale (2002).
Here is the field for the Horsham Cup (Race 8, 8.12pm):
Race 8 WESTSIDE TABARET HORSHAM CUP FINAL
S/E Group 2 480 Metres 08:12PM
$28000-8000-4000 /4TH LEG QUAD 2ND LEG D/D TRI/QUIN R/D
Box Form Name Best Trainer
1 18542 CYCLONE NED NBT K J Lunson
2 33221 SPIRAL GLORY 27.25 T Womann
3 12352 BARNEY NBT M Fearnley
4 12111 VELOCETTE 27.07 G J Bate
5 23221 JARVIS BALE 27.32 G J Bate
6 11211 TAIPAN BALE 27.13 G J Bate
7 11222 CRACKED ICE NBT P E Giles
8 17711 HANIFY'S IMPACT 27.17 J Thompson
9 23442 BIRTHDAY BOY Res. 27.51 S J Elsum
10 21162 KINKA BALE Res. NBT G J Bate