Greyhound stars shine in final The Phoenix preparations
On a wet afternoon at The Meadows on Monday, December 11, two Phoenix contenders showcased their skills in public trails as their final hitouts before Saturday night's $1,000,000 to-the-winner race.
The two trials were held publicly at a media event at The Meadows which was scheduled to allow mainstream media and public greyhound fans access to the stars of the sport.
With five days remaining until the anticipated $1.65 million race called The Phoenix (525m) on Saturday night, both greyhounds delivered truly impressive performances during their final preparations.
Queenslander Jay Is Jay, who was the 20203 Group 1 Topgun, demonstrated his dominance by completing a post-to-post trial in a time of 24.74 seconds.
The 2023 Million Dollar Chase winner hit the second mark in a time of 12.76 seconds and ran home in 11.98.
Co-trainer Michael Zammit remained cautious about the trial but said he was “satisfied” with Jay's performance in the wet conditions.
Jay Is Jay has drawn box eight in The Phoenix, representing the Racing Queensland slot owners, and it is the same box from which he ran second at The Meadows to Transponder in the Topgun.
Sitting on career earnings of $1,419,250, if Jay Is Jay were to win The Phoenix race, he would become only the second greyhound in history to pass the $2 million prizemoney mark and would likely overtake the greyhound prizemoney world record holder, Wow She's Fast, who has $2,391,995 in career earnings.
Jay Is Jay is priced as a +1300 chance with online bookmakers to win The Phoenix from the outside draw.
Schillaci, trained by pizza shop owner Jihad Talgi, also trialed on the day.
Trailing from the boxes in box-to-box trail, Schillaci ran splits of 5.15 and 17.71 before a finish on in the home straight.
Talgi said he was happy with the trial, considering the prevailing weather conditions.
Talgi also believes that the 2023 Group 1 SA Derby winner's best path to victory on Saturday night is his ability to run straight after exiting the boxes.
“He's probably not too badly drawn,” Talgi said.
“The four (Postman Pat) likes to cut in.
“Schillaci won't cut in.
“He'll stay straight.
“Hopefully he can put a bit of a margin on them and who knows?”
Greyhound betting sites have Schillaci quoted a +3000 chance to win the $1.65 million Phoenix on Saturday night at The Meadows.
The final field for the 2023 Phoenix will be set when Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) and Melbourne Greyhound Racing Association (MGRA) representatives meet on Wednesday to determine the two reserves for the slot race.
2023 The Phoenix
2023 The Phoenix Box Draw & FieldMeadows525m Slot Race $1,000,000 to-the-winnerSaturday, December 16, 2023
|
|
 |
1 Pass The Buck
+300
|
 |
2 Hector Fawley
T: Lisa Cockerell F: 1122Career: 43: 17-8-3Prizemoney: $249,795Slot Owner: Total Container Solutions
+350
|
 |
3 Alpha Zulu
T: Jason Thompson F: 1345Career: 23: 15-3-2Prizemoney: $225,925Slot Owner: Good Blokes Society
+300
|
 |
4 Postman Pat
T: Jason ThompsonF: 3271Career: 34: 23-5-2Prizemoney: $336,110Slot Owner: Greyhounds HQ
+400
|
 |
5 Schillaci
+3000
|
 |
6 Wow She's Fast
T: Jackie Greenough F: 1T67Career: 34: 20-3-0Prizemoney: $2,391,995Slot Owner: Sportsbet
+850
|
 |
7 Big Energy
T: Jackie Greenough F: 5112Career: 29: 14-7-0Prizemoney: $408,310Slot Owner: RSN
+500
|
 |
8 Jay Is Jay
+1300
|
.jpg){kind=logo}
Odds correct at time of publication