Champion Queensland trainer Tony Brett’s attention will be divided between Sandown and Lismore on Thursday night.
While Brett will be at Sandown to watch his superstar Queen Lauryn attempt to secure back-to-back wins in the prestigious Group One Crown Classic in what shapes as a thrilling duel with the brilliant Cindeen Shelby, he’ll also have two runners in the Group Two Lismore Workers Club Cup Final (520 metres).
Brett, who won the Lismore Cup with his champion bitch Bogie Leigh in 2003, has both Robo Raptor (box three) and Banzai Pipeline (box seven) engaged in Thursday night’s rich $30,000 to the winner decider.
Brett’s duo both won their respective Cup heats in good style last Sunday, with Banzai Pipeline (Surf Lorian x Crossword Lizzy) making it two wins from as many appearances at Lismore with a slick 30.04 effort, while Robo Raptor (Collision x Macbeth’s Image), which is also raced by Tony and his wife Fleur, clocked 30.44 at his Lismore debut.
While Brett’s pair were both impressive in their heats, fastest qualifier Azure Allegro, trained locally by Neville Robson, is the one to beat after she romped home in her qualifier, scoring by eight lengths in a fast 29.97, and then drew the all-important rails alley for the final.
Azure Allegro, the winner of four of her five starts over the Lismore 520 metre circuit, is a deserving favourite for the Cup, although Group specialist Brett gives both his contenders a winning hope.
“They’re definitely both a chance of winning, although like Queen Lauryn (box five) at Sandown they haven’t drawn real well,” Brett offered.
“The run of the seven dog (Banzai Pipeline) on Sunday was just enormous and Robo Raptor, which we own ourselves, is a nice little dog – he can be a bit tardy but he’s got tremendous acceleration when he takes off.
“They both ran well in the heats and they’re both capable of breaking 30 at the track. They’ll need a bit of luck but if they get it they’re both capable of winning the race.”
In what could well be a lucrative twenty minute period for Tony Brett, the Lismore Cup Final will be run at 9.57pm, shortly after Queen Lauryn and Cindeen Shelby do battle in the Sandown Crown Classic at 9.40pm.