Burzynski’s Looking To Step Out Of Two Wah’s Shadow
Ben Abercrombie's youngster Burzynski will have yet another chance to dominate another finals series this Saturday night in the Young Stars Classic at Cannington.
The white and black dog who has won three of his last four starts, last week added a Canning Series Final to his name in a personal best time of 30.42 from the dreaded Cannington eight box.
On that occasion, after crossing the field Burzynski hit the first corner with the lead and enough confidence from the crowd to bring him home the victory.
That win demonstrated that not only can this dog fly out of the boxes, and has early place that lands him in front of the field on most occasions; but he is strong enough to hold off a very handy field.
With the sibling rivalry between brother and sister Mullet Hunter in full bloom, Burzynski showed that he is a class above; not giving her a chance to lead him at any opportunity in the final.
“She (Mullet Hunter) is handy but she doesn't have the class that Burzynski has got” trainer Ben Abercrombie said.
“Once he (Burzynski) led I thought that the rest of the field was going to have a job to catch him.”
His only danger turning onto the home straight was Paul Stuart's Dannie Bale who worked hard to find himself in second place; falling two and a half lengths short off the win.
“I think Burzynski might be stronger then I originally gave him credit for” said Abercrombie.
“On Saturday he proved it…Dannie Bale was a very convincing winner the week before, but he is a pretty strong and a big dog; and he couldn't pick him up.”
Strength is something that Burzynski has bred into him in spades being by Premier Fantasy out of Tayza, the 2008 National Distance Championship finalist. It's a quality that is obviously genetic with sibling Two Wah having already etched significant success over the distance in the form guides.
Unfortunately tragedy struck Two Wah, who fell victim to the Cannington racetrack two weeks ago severely breaking his hock.
“The x-ray wasn't pretty, he will never race again and we will never be able to put him back together.”
“Its not just one bone, its about six of the nine.”
Two Wah is now starting to live out life as a retired greyhound at Ben's kennels.
“I'm going to keep him at home for the meantime or even forever.”
“If something comes up I will try and home him myself.”
Two Wah had made the 642 metre trip at Cannington his own, winning in five of his six starts. His prize money topped $40,000 from just 30 races. Although he will be missed on race night at Cannington, Ben chooses to extract positives from his unfortunate situation.
“There is no conciliation for loosing him, even when his litter brothers and sisters win.”
“If there was a problem there you have to take some responsibility since I am the trainer.”
“If there was possibly something I didn't do leading up to that run…you've got to try and in the future just take it on the chin rather then getting down about it and try to improve.”
“If you beat yourself up over the negatives your not going to go forward, its part of racing. You just never understand why it happens.”
Although Two Wah was so far the strongest out of the litter Ben believes he wasn't the best.
“Early on there where two bitches in the litter that where going enormous and they won a couple at Cannington. One called Fees And Charges and the other Takahashi.”
“Takahashi is without a doubt the fastest dog I have ever put a lead on.”
Takahashi looked to be a real star before she chipped a stopper bone in her fifth start.
“She ran 30.30 one start and the next day she was in flames, so I had it x-rayed straight away and it turned out to be a chip to the base of the stopper. It's a bad spot because it is where it joins onto the wrist.”
She didn't have any surgery, just some treatment and plenty of rest. Takahashi is currently trailing and Ben believes that she could make it back to the track.
“Realistically if you breed out of a stayer, in the back of your mind that is what you are trying to breed. If you get sprinters it's a bonus.”
That is exactly what breeders Helen Sayer and Greg Dwyer had in mind. Tayza was not only a star in her own right on race night but she turned our to be a very good mother.
When you find a vey well performed stayer that can push puppies out with ease like she does, and care for them until they are bigger than her; it therefore comes as no surprise that those pups become very exciting prospects in their own right.
“It will be interesting with Burzynski whether he can take that next step, I reckon he will make it over 600. I probably won't rush to try him because he has been going traffic over 500″ said Abercrombie.
“The way science is, you just cant do it at both ends and if you can you're a champion.”
“Because he is so quick early he is using all his petrol then and he's not got that little bit in reserve.”
Ben has previously had Hot Irish who was always brilliant early, yet she was strong enough to hold the field off when it came down the wire because of her competitive edge and a desperately brave need to win.
“You train them a little bit differently….you have got to work around their strengths.”
“I work around the fact that Burzynski is quick early. I don't work him too hard to keep him fresh so when he comes out, he comes out really quick.”
Burzynski, named after a Polish Doctor in the US who has had great success with cancer treatments, is looking to make it win number ten from twenty starts on Saturday night and add to his $30,000 in prizemoney. He has drawn box eight in the first heat of the Young Star Classic with Mandurah Cup winner Te Amo.
Whelped in May 2011 the 30kg dog will be one of the oldest dogs in the series, along with littermates Mullet Hunter and Lika Firecracker.
“He will bring experience. There is going to be some really fast dogs.”
Ben believes Burzynski is more suited to the outside box draw. From trailing him in a field when he was younger, he tended to perform better from wider boxes.
“He is one of those dogs that can handle outside boxes.”
“If it is a truly run race, Te Amo should win and hopefully he runs second.”
“She would have to do a lot wrong for Burzynski to lead her early” said Abercrombie.
“When you go into a final series your just looking to make the final, and you have got to make sure your ready the following week.”