His kennel stars missed the cut off date by just a matter of weeks, but leading NSW trainer Jason Magri is hopeful two visiting recruits could see him play a role in the Group 1 Ladbrokes National Derby.
Magri will be represented by Victorian pair Compliance and Persuasive in Friday night’s heats of the Derby, while his own team will look to be serious contenders in Saturday’s heats of the Group 1 Paws Of Thunder, which will be drawn on Wednesday.
“All of mine missed the date by just a few weeks,” Magri said of the qualifying cut off whelping date of October 1, 2019. “So, I’ll send them around in the Paws Of Thunder heats instead.
Both of Magri’s Derby dogs are owned in Victoria by Amanda Tullio, with Persuasive trained by Chris Darmanin and Compliance by Karen Pitt.
Both dogs have had a look at Wentworth Park, Compliance trialling solo last Saturday night in 30.43s after appearing to knuckle over as he exited the starting boxes.
“Persuasive had been up here for three weeks and he’s had a couple of trials - a post to post and a 500m at Wenty and gone extremely well, and I’m really happy with the way he’s going.
“Compliance, I got him the other night after the trial, and I think the first time at the track, it got the better of him.
“The dog has ability. He led the Silver Chief and got caught on the post, so we know he can run and is up to the class. I think he’ll go much better than the trial this Friday night.”
Compliance has won five of his seven starts, and on New Year’s Day led until the final stages of the Group 1 Silver Chief at The Meadows when second to Zippy Tesla.
Both of Magri’s dogs have drawn box eight, Compliance in heat three and Persuasive in heat five. Six heats of the Derby have been drawn for Friday, with one of the other leading candidates being ZIPPING Maserati (pictured) who has drawn box 3 in heat one.
Four heats of the Group 1 Ladbrokes National Futurity will also be held on Friday night with Mark Gatt’s Ritza Donna having drawn box six as she chases her second Group 1 in a little over a month having taken out the Dapto Megastar in December.
Since then she has had two starts, both at Wentworth Park and after being run down by ZIPPING Alabama in December, last Saturday she had no luck when fifth behind Cherokee Outlaw.
“She had a bit of a rough ride on Saturday, and copped a bit of a check, but she’s pulled up well,” Gatt said.
“We would have preferred closer to the rail, but I’m just hoping she can get over and slot in somewhere in the heat.
“You just want to get through this week, run one-two, get into the final and that would be great if we could just do that.”
Among the other leading contenders for the Futurity, Good Odds Cash drew box seven in heat two, Victorian Idolize box four and South Australian Don’t Tell Lies box one in heat three, and heat four sees Ties That Bind in box two, Yuko Girl in box three and the flying She’s A Pearl in box six.
The fields for the Group 1 Ladbrokes National Derby and the Group 1 Ladbrokes National Futurity, can be found here.
