The same as parents with their children, Michelle and Mick Lill wouldn’t publicly declare which of their two littermates they believe is the best. But we may find out next week when kennelmates and brothers More Sauce and Casual Glance tackle the final of the Group 2 Sires On Ice Black Top at LADBROKES GARDENS.
The pair both won their heats of the $40,000 event on Friday night, More Sauce clocking 29.40s then less than half an hour later Casual Glance was equally impressive winning in 29.44s.
But the one the pair will both have to beat is the John Finn-trained Zipping Kyrgios who heads into the final as the fastest heat winner with a very impressive 29.24s at his first start at the Newcastle track.
Next Friday will be only the third time the pair have clashed in a race, with More Sauce finishing in front of Casual Glance on both occasions, and both time in feature events.
Back in April More Sauce was narrowly beaten by Ebby Jet Power in the Maitland Gold Cup Final. Casual Glance also made that final but finished back in seventh.
Then in July, More Sauce took out the Grafton Sprinters Cup, with Casual Glance finishing third.
The charge to the first turn will be an interesting race in itself and probably go a long way to determining the winner.
In the heats, Casual Glance set the standard for the first sectional of 4.90s. More Sauce was slow to move but still clocked 4.93s to the first mark. In the other two heats, Zulu Warlord and Pay Call both led and clocked 4.96s and 4.97s respectively.
While More Sauce was one of the pre-post favourites for the series, some were still questioning his ability around the tighter Gardens track.
He was expected to explode from the boxes, but he was slow to move, but once his paws hit the loam he mustered speed and was able to lead around the first turn, and was never threatened from there, going on to win in 29.40s.
Owen Langley’s Arctic Kingdom tried valiantly to reel in the leader but would only get within 2½ lengths at the finish, however that was enough to book a spot in next week’s final.
The win improved More Sauce’s record to 18 wins from 28 starts and he now gets another crack at a Group victory next Friday, having gone down by a half head to Ebby Jet Power in that Group 2 Maitland event back in April.
Causal Glance was in a hurry as the boxes opened in his heat and he had no problems leading and carving time out in front that made it very difficult for his rivals to catch him.
Winning for the 24th time in his 42-start career, Casual Glance clocked 29.44s in defeating Zipping Alabama by 3½ lengths.
Third place went to the promising Mickey Doo, who was touted as a strong winning chance but was never a hope after being slowly away.
Bathurst Cup winner Zulu Warlord began well but had to work hard to get across from box 8 in the run to the first turn. Once he did however that was race over, as the Mick Hardman-trained sprinter opened up a big lead mid race and would go on to win in 29.63s, by 4¾ lengths from Ritza William.
The Peter Lagogiane-trained Pay Call led easily from box 1, but from box 7, Zipping Kyrgios somehow managed to get across to the fence and into second place on the first turn. At that moment he was the one to beat, and he didn’t let his supporters down, reeling in Pay Call on the home turn and racing away for a 3½ length win.
Zipping Kyrgios is racing in rare form, with Friday’s win his fourth in succession, and like the Gardens’ victory, the previous three – all at Richmond – have been won in best of the night times.
The win was also his 19th from just 38 starts and continued an amazingly consistent run of performances. In his last 16 starts, Zipping Kyrgios has won 10 times, been runner-up four times, and third on the other two occasions.
