Black Top Aspirants Rev Up On Black Friday At The Gardens
A number of hopefuls for the upcoming $35,000 to the winner Group Two Multicam Black Top will be in action today at The Gardens in race six, the Multicam Nearing Stake over 515 metres, and all will be looking to avoid bad luck on Friday the 13th.
Local stars New Divide, Rachel Robbo and Devine Ruler will do battle with Northern NSW visitor, Hanify's Forte, which is trained by Colin Graham at Wiangaree 60 km North West of Lismore and will travel almost eight hours to race at The Gardens.
New Divide has claimed the spot as master trainer Ken Cheetham's kennel star, after the recent retirement of the 2009 NSW Greyhound of the Year, Take The Kitty. New Divide has already shown he is up to the elite level by making the Group Two Peter Mosman Final and is looking for his third win on end.
“I think he'll (New Divide) be hard to beat today and he can measure up in the Black Top” said Cheetham
But today's Free For All won't be an easy task by any means with speed out wide from track specialist, Rachael Robbo in trap seven, and Devine Ruler, from the inform Patrick Parrelli kennel, starting from the extreme outside.
Devine Ruler is and according to the GRNSW form analyst is “the best boxed runner all day”, while Rachael Robbo has won 11 races at The Gardens over three distances, 413, 515 and 600 metres, will be prepared for the Multicam Black Top, before starting a new career as a mother.
“I'm happy with the way she has freshened up after a couple of weeks off” said Rachael Robbo's co-trainer, Gary Robertson
“She's only got a couple of starts left in her I don't like to over race the girls and try to restrict them to around 40 starts. It will be a nice way to finish her race track career, in a Group race at The Gardens”.
Visiting chaser, Hanify's Forte is the X-factor of the race, making his debut at The Gardens, but he looks a smart type, winning 13 of his 32 starts, including two of his last four at Brisbane's metropolitan track, Albion Park.
The son of Surf Lorian and Miss Hanify is also well related, being a younger half brother of Melbourne Cup runner-up and Multiple Group Two winner, Hanify's Impact.
The Group Two Multicam Black Top heats are on Saturday August 28 and will be run in conjunction with the Group One National Championships at Angle Park in Adelaide in the early evening timeslot, with the $35,000 to the winner final the following Saturday.
A number of Nation's best trainers have already said they will be in Newcastle for the feature, including champion Queensland mentor Ron Ball with Group One winner Mr Metz. Ball was the man behind Hall Of Fame bitch, Flying Amy, a star on the mid 1990's that is widely regarded as one of the greatest female chasers of all time.
Mr Metz won the Brisbane Cup at the end of last year and returned to racing two weeks ago after lengthy injury enforce lay-off by defeating the best greyhounds in the country in the inaugural $25,000 to the winner Macro Meats Megastar at Dapto.
Today there are 10 quality races on the card at The Gardens and you can bet live at Iasbet or Sportsbet, with the first race of the early evening program scheduled to kick off at 4.02pm AEST