SA’s National Distance Championship Hope Pulls Up
Any hopes South Australia had of a 2009 Group 1 National Distance Championship win at Cannington on Saturday night, were seemingly dashed this morning when SA representative Tafari Bale pulled up in a solo trial on the track.
Attempting to trial over the 715m staying journey of Saturday night’s $50,000 to the winner final, Tafari Bale left the boxes well enough although was obviously not entirely comfortable on the track.
From there Tafari Bale headed down to the winning post the first time in 16.51 which was nearly a second slower than Red Shilling ran when winning the West Australian National Distance Championship last Saturday night.
Things didn’t get any better from there on, with the young Lisa Rasmussen trained son of Pure Octane~Fiona Bale clearly lifting his head through the catching pen area and in two minds at that point in the trial already.
Getting going again, the Paul Wheeler owned greyhound chased well within himself before stopping completely on the corner next to the 530m boxes.
Handler Neville Haines was circumspect about the trial, blaming the poor performance on nerves and a bad flight. Whatever the reason, Tafari Bale’s hopes of winning on Saturday night are now closer zero than anything else, and the young up and coming stayers only real challenge will be to complete the course on Saturday night and avoid a 28 day stand down for failing to chase.
The sensational trial can be seen below.
In other trials, the news didn’t get any better for South Australian hopes with Aunty Vick convincingly beaten by a kennelmate, finishing two lengths second in a two dog trial in 30.63.
In other trials, Tasmanian sprint representative Koocanusa ran 30.84 in a solo trial, and New South Wales sprint representative Did I Entertain ran 24.87 post to post this morning after a moderate 30.79 trial on Saturday night.
Also on Saturday night Victorian sprint representative Dyna Lachlan trialled 30.33 and Dashing Corsair trialled 30.35. New South Wales distance hope Smashing Amy trialled a moderate 42.46 on Saturday night, the same night Red Shilling ran 42.00 winning.