Unlawful Entry the toast of Tassie following Hobart Thousand win
VICTORIAN sprinter Unlawful Entry will be targeted at the upcoming Group 1 Silver Chief Classic (525 metres) following his dominant victory in Thursday night's Group 1 Hobart Thousand.
Trained by Kelly and Brett Bravo, the brindle and white greyhound missed the kick from box two but was able to barge his way through the pack along the fence to slip into third spot in the run around the turn.
Swinging into the straight and the son of Knocka Norris and She Ain't Late hooked to the outside, unleashing a powerful run to claim the lead from Bearville Azza in the charge towards the line, going on to score by three-quarters-of-a-length in a slick 25.78.
Kelly Bravo spoke to Australian Racing Greyhound following the run and said she hoped that Unlawful Entry would derive benefit from his 25.95 debut at Hobart the week prior.
“I wouldn't say we were confident going into the race, but we thought there would be some improvement in him after his heat,” Bravo said.
“When he jumped the way he did I didn't give him much of a chance but to his credit he pushed through and gave it is all.
“To look at him you wouldn't think much of him, he is only a little 31 kilo dog, but there are not too many which would chase harder than him – he seems to go for runs which aren't even there.”
Owned by the Bravo's daughter Bronte, Unlawful Entry has now won 11 races from 21 starts including the Group 2 Great Chase at The Meadows in October.
Purchased by Kelly and Brett earlier in the year, Bravo says he has turned out better than they could ever have hoped for.
“When we purchased him we thought he was a dog which needed to have box eight, but he has proven now that he can handle the inside too.
“We thought he was going to be a handy dog but, as dogs tend to do with more experience, he has kept improving…although he has surprised us a bit by how much.
“Taking him to Hobart was actually a last minute decision…it was something we only decided the morning that nominations closed when Brett asked me if he should take him across.”
The last minute decision has earned the Bravo family over $75,000 in prize money, with Unlawful Entry now heading to The Meadows on Saturday for a Silver Chief heat pending he pulls up well following his Tasmanian triumph.
“We will only start him if he is 100 per cent. Brett will have a good look at him this afternoon (Friday) and we will make a final decision from there but at this stage he seems to have pulled up well.
“It is not ideal and it is not something you could do with every dog, but we won't be starting him unless we are confident that he will be able to handle it.”
It has been a terrific year for team Bravo, winning the Group 1 Hume Cup with Secret Spell and the Group 2 Cyril Rowe Cup and the Group 2 Shootout with Kayda Shae, with the latter also finishing a close second behind Fernando Bale in the Group 1 Topgun and an unlucky third in the Group 1 Adelaide Cup.
2016 could start out equally as well, with Unlawful Entry the $2.15 favourite with Crownbet to take out his heat on Saturday night where he will start from box three in race six.
The first two plus the 10 fastest thirds will progress through to the semi-finals next weekend, with the $100,000 decider to be run on January 2, 2016.
Click here to read Australian Racing Greyhound's full preview of each Silver Chief heat.