Pursell steals the prize in Hobart Maiden Thousand final
BRENDAN Pursell will be driving home to Brighton a very happy man after capping off a sensational Hobart Maiden Thousand series with the quinella in the final.
Pursell had expressed concerns when talking to Australian Racing Greyhound about the box draw for the final, but that problem was solved early, with I’ve Got Class driving through to take the early lead from Pursell’s $2.80 favourite Despicable Todd.
The Susan Gittus trained Dark Nemesis was the fastest to leave the boxes, but once the two class runners mustered through to lead the field it was always going to be a two dog race, and this is precisely how things panned out in an extremely rough affair.
Turning for home it was the Pursell pair a proverbial minute in front of Work It and daylight back to the remainder of the field, which had been severely disrupted when Reddington was turned sideways. This action resulted in every runner outside of the place-getters receiving severe checks.
From that point on it was a matter of which Pursell runner would be victorious and it was Despicable Todd who took honours after handling the turn far better than I’ve Got Class. The second place-getter fought hard to the line to go down in a close finish, with Work It a long way back in third. Luckily all five chasers involved in the scrimmage arrived in the catching pen safe and sound.
This win takes Despicable Todd’s race record to three wins from three starts, with the son of Collision and Lyndor Lee amassing an impressive $10,170 in prizemoney to kickstart what looks like an extremely promising career.
Hobart Maiden Thousand Full Results
1st: Despicable Todd (5) – Brendan Pursell
2nd: I’ve Got Class (3) – Brendan Pursell
3rd: Work It (1) – Michael Sutcliffe
4th: One Man Army (6) – Brendan Pursell
5th: Beemo (7) – Susan Gittus
6th: Outskirts (2) – Ted Medhurst
7th: Dark Nemesis (8) – Susan Gittus
8th: Reddington (4) – Mick Stringer
Time: 26.58
1st Split: 5.23
2nd Split: 11.40
Run Home: 15.18
Scratchings: Bearville Wigi (9), Bio Hazard (10)
Lynne Pursell
Lynne Pursell