GREYHOUNDS
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday September 4, 2009
Parochial Victorians will not hear of defeat in the National Sprint and Distance Championships at Cannington on Saturday, but their path to group 1 success is far from clear.In a change to previous qualifying standards, the Victorians have not only qualified their winners of sprint and distance finals at The Meadows (Dyna Lachlan) and Sandown (Vintage Octane), but the two highest-ranked non-winners from all state finals happen to be Victorian-trained.Cannington track record-holder Velocette secured the sprint "wildcard" and Jarvis Bale, despite being well held when second to Vintage Octane at Sandown on August 20 in the Victorian qualifier, will also do battle in the finals worth $50,000 to the winners.Two finalists in each race is a massive plus and the box draw provided the Victorian sprinters with huge bonuses.Dyna Lachlan was quickly listed as a $1.90 favourite for the sprint after securing the rails alley and Velocette was gifted box eight.Trainer Darren McDonald was delighted when front-running stayer Vintage Octane came up with box eight in the 715 metres distance championship, and the fawn dog will take no end of beating.But naysayers will dwell on a previous failing at Cannington and the fact that the dog faces an in-form and speedy local in Red Shilling.Vintage Octane is in career-best form but could only finish third to Western Land in the Galaxy at Cannington on March 21 as a long odds-on favourite."Red Shilling has been beaten only twice [from nine starts] at Cannington over 715 and she has the pace to match Vintage Octane early on," Greyhounds WA chief executive David Simonette said."The locals are confident Red Shilling can win ... the sectionals she runs says she should lead and post something like 41.60 [seconds] which should be good enough to get the job done."But it will be the early pressure on both stayers that will decide the result.NSW hopeful Smashing Amy might just be the fly in the ointment. She has box one and latest Wentworth Park form suggests she can run a bold race and certainly improve dramatically on a moderate 42.46 trial at the track on August 29.And box one gives Dyna Lachlan a massive chance in the sprint title. He held the highly rated Turanza Bale at bay in the Victorian Sprint Championship in a cracking 29.79 at The Meadows on August 22 and then trialled very well (30.33) at Cannington seven days later.Guthrie's trip goes south fastThe trip to Perth for the National Championships proved to be an interesting process for leading scribe Gerard Guthrie.The Greyhound Recorder's chief writer arrived in the west on Wednesday night but his baggage was later discovered in Adelaide.Only in Perth for three nights, Guthrie was told it might take up to 72 hours for his belongings to arrive in Perth €“ by which time he would be back on the east coast and readying to watch his beloved Collingwood do battle with St Kilda at the MCG on Sunday.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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