Ipswich Young Gun winner continues to improve for Michael Zammit
Another Chance might now be the Ipswich Young Guns champion, but in his early days as a chaser co-trainer Michael Zammit never thought he was capable of winning events over 500m.
He had some physical weaknesses from day one and his first five starts were only over 366m on the Capalaba straight.
He was no slouch, however, winning all five of those.
The now two-year-old with nine wins from 18 races continued to develop and on January 26 he started in a race greater than 500m for the first time.
It was a learning curve, finishing seventh in a fifth-grade 520m event at Albion Park.
But Zammit saw Another Chance had potential and persisted with him, giving him just that – another opportunity.
The developing talent has not looked back since, winning his next three starts over 520m.
That included his first Listed feature – the $43,125 Ipswich Young Guns in a time of 30.61 seconds on Saturday night.
It was a deserved reward for the patience shown by Zammit and his wife Selena.
“When he was young he wasn’t so strong, so we never really worried about putting him over 500m, or were in a rush to step him up,” Zammit told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“We were hoping he’d get a bit stronger, which he did.
“He won his first five at Capalaba, so he probably put a bit of a wrap on himself in a way, even though they were just up the straight.
“He ran fair times for the class he was in.”
Despite his rapid emergence as a sprinter in distances over 520m, Zammit was not getting too carried away regarding Another Chance’s next target race.
“He’s doing everything right, so you just don’t know (what his next aim will be),” he said.
“We’re happy. We don’t think too far ahead with them.
“You can only do what you can do, and he’s been doing it.
“He’s still a fifth-grader on the outside.
“I’ll probably try one or two races on the outside before we go back to the city.”
As well as his physical development, Another Chance also displayed his racing maturity on the weekend.
Starting from the No.8 box, he took what he learnt from a practice run from the far lane over to his feature-race assignment.
The two-year-old crossed beautifully from box eight and led before the first turn.
He then held out Ninetymile Queen for Warren Nicholls at the finishing post.
Zammit believes this will serve Another Chance well for the next time he draws the outer lane.
“We didn’t know whether it was a good box or a bad box. If you miss it, you know what it’s like,” he said.
“He thought ‘I better get over’. He didn’t come out real good last week.
“But in saying that it was his first look out of that box.
“He had a post-to-post there, but he hadn’t had a lot of trials there, so having a look out of the boxes might’ve made a difference.
“It obviously helped him.”
Ninetymile Queen for Warren Nicholls took the lead from Another Chance before the turn for home.
But the $3.50 winning chance with greyhound betting sites never gave up, coming back to put his head over the line first.
Zammit admitted he did not think Another Chance would get a second opportunity to pass Ninetymile Queen, but he lived up to his name in thrilling fashion.
“Probably not. They did bump a bit, and it was probably lucky they were still in the finish,” he said.
“If they bumped a bit more they might’ve been buggered.
“We were just lucky he didn’t get knocked out of it.”