Cranbourne King Mossimo Bale headed for the Australian Cup
MOSSIMO Bale (Fernando Bale x Searle Bale Sep '15) will head towards the heats of the Group 1 Australian Cup (525m) at The Meadows after taking out the Group 2 Cranbourne Cup (520m) on Saturday.
Jumping from box six as an $11 shot, Mossimo Bale began fairly, pushing up into second spot behind Monster Fish (Fernando Bale x Scissor Queen Aug '15) around the first turn.
Once he found clear room the red fawn dog buckled down and set off in pursuit of the leader, hitting the lead in the home straight and charging clear to win by one and a half lengths in 30.12.
Monster Fish held on for second ahead of race favourite Poke The Bear (Fernando Bale x Nicki Fields Dec '15) which flashed home for third – giving Fernando Bale the first three across the line.
REPLAY: MOSSIMO BALE (B6) claimed the 2018 Casey Steel #CranbourneCup for trainer Andrea Dailly in the last leg of #GreyhoundRacing Victoria's #GippslandCarnival. pic.twitter.com/46hObnlNPL
— Greyhound Racing Vic (@GRV_News) February 10, 2018
Co-trainer Tom Dailly was rapt with the performance of Mossimo Bale – his first success at group level.
“His form was really good and although I wasn't overly confident I thought he was a good top four chance,” Dailly told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“He was probably fortunate that Up Hill Jill was scratched – I thought she might have come across and crowded him up a bit – but with her out I was hoping he'd get a bit more room to move which he did.
“When he got to second turning into the back straight I gave him a big chance – he has been racing strongly and it was a good win.”
Mossimo Bale has now won 14 races from 30 starts with seven placings and has now pocketed $94,459 for Dailly and his owner/breeder, Paul Wheeler.
Dailly, who also trained Fernando Bale, said Mossimo Bale is a natural racer like his dad and is hopeful he can now go on to win a group 1 race like his famous sire.
“They are different types of dogs, but he is a good hard chaser like Fernando which is what you want.
“He has found good form at the right time and there are some nice feature races he can go after now like the Australian Cup.
“He isn't a superstar, but he can match it with the top graders so when he gets a bit of luck he is a chance.
“In any of these big races you have got to be in it to win it, so you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best.”
Team Dailly could be in for a big week, with the talented Hecton Bale – a litter brother to Mossimo Bale – gaining a start in the invitation only Group 1 Rookie Rebel (600m) at The Meadows this Saturday night.
A winner of 10 of his 22 starts, Dailly says the black dog has the ability to win, but concedes he will need to begin well to be in with a realistic chance of landing the feature.
“He is quite a good dog. He is a little bit slow early, but he has got a big motor,” Dailly said.
“Box three suits him – if he cant get out half reasonable and position up close behind them then he is going to be coming home strongly and is a big chance.”