I’m pretty rapt with him. When I got him in September last year he was still a maiden so he’s come a long way. I always knew he had ability but I’ve just been waiting for it to click. Now he’s in a nice groove and he’s my best dog in the kennel at the moment, he might just be a ‘girl dog’.
He had a few head issues when I got him so I thought he’d be good to run a few places at Wagga, I certainly didn’t think he’d be running in these sort of races. The final is hard but I’m happy with the box and he could improve a bit because he was three weeks fresh before the heats.
He’s got to beat Larry">Nangar Larry">Larry out of the boxes because that dog is on fire at the moment and is the class of the race. A race against him was actually the reason I thought I’d have a crack at the Temora Cup. Agent Chevrolet had a run against Larry at Goulburn a few starts back and we ran second to him there by a length and a half. It was a good battle between the two of them and my bloke had never been there so it was a really good run.
He’s obviously got a good chance. I was pretty impressed with the heat run and he’s starting to begin a lot better than he used to. He’s strong late and a really good chaser, that’s his best asset. Even if he doesn’t lead, he can come from behind like he proved in the Bulli Gold Cup.
I don’t think he’s drawn to perfection though as there’s a lot of speed around him. I’d prefer him out wide if I had a choice so he can make his own luck.
I think the biggest improver in the race will be Agent Chevrolet. I’ve backed him a few times and he’s got up at good odds against better dogs. He’s run some very fast times, he’s been stepping up in trip and he’s obviously going to be a major player in the final. He’s at juicy odds and if you go back through his form, he’s going as good as any dog in the race. He was just behind Nangar Larry at Goulburn and it’s a bit of a different a start at Temora so I think he’ll get his chance.
Hopefully he’s ready to repeat what he did in the National Derby, just this time it will be up against the free for all dogs. I think his heat run was good but he just let TATTOOED back into it when he hit the corner too fast. I think it caught him by surprise so if he can improve on that bend, he’ll be hard to run down.
He trialled 25.5 and that was his first look at the track so if everything went his way I think he could go 25.4 or even 25.3. Larry">Nangar Larry">Larry is the main opposition but I think whoever gets clear air and leads in the first 40m will win. Corleone Flight is quick early and that could hold the likes of Nangar Jim and TATTOOED out, then we just want to be ahead of Larry.
I just don’t think I had History’s Coming at 100% in the heats of the Bulli Gold Cup. He was a bit tight after slipping in the boxes at Wenty Park and he might not have been quite right for Bulli. This preparation has been exactly like the one he had for the Derby though and Temora still has the old loud lure that he was broken in on so he tends to jump better with that.
We’re looking forward to it but he needs to find a bit of improvement from his heat. He got beaten by about 8.25 lengths by Nangar Larry but he jumped reasonably, he just got eased back a bit as they came off the mat and hit the sand. He was second last at one stage but showed a lot of pace down the back straight, manoeuvred his way through and then got past a dog like Swindled who ran some good races at Bulli recently. That was his first look at Temora as well.
We also hadn’t raced him since the Bulli Gold Cup heats, he’d only had one trial leading into the Temora series so he should be fitter, but it all depends on how he gets out of the boxes. Agent Chevrolet, Nangar Larry and History’s Coming all have pace. Nangar Jim and TATTOOED go fast. It’s a great race.
It’s also a really good track. It’s a speed track, a bit like a Harold Park replica. It’s a lovely, big run to the first turn and then the uphill straight tests how strong a dog is. Nangar Larry nearly broke the track record held by She’s A Pearl last week so that shows you how stiff the competition is.
I’m just hoping she comes out of the boxes like she can and if she gets in front, we’ll see if they can catch her. I think a lot of people have that plan though. We’re proud of her no matter the result and she’s giving us a lot of fun. Me and my partner Gary [Kimber] broke her in ourselves and not long after we started racing her, she came on season. She’d had a couple of Temora wins before that, so she likes racing around the track.
She’s only lightly raced because we just move slow and the time just gets away from us. Gary was in a car accident seven years ago and he just loves going to the races and talking to people at the track. It’s kept him going and it’s been like rehabilitation in a way. A lady went to sleep and crashed head on into Gary as he was on his way up to feed some dogs at our property in Young. He ended up with a brain injury, multiple fractures and he wasn’t expected to live. That was in May, 2016. He came out of hospital in December that year and the greyhounds have kept him going since and it’s been like rehabilitation for him. He loves going to the races and talking to the other participants.
Corleone-flight">Corleone">Corleone Flight’s mother (Corleone Kid) was in the Temora Cup final a few years ago and her uncle (Corleone King) was in the final as well. So this race is becoming a nice part of the family history.
Jeez, it’s a good final and a really hot race. Nangar Larry is flying, History’s Coming is one of the nicest Young dogs in NSW. Jess Fothergill’s dog has a lot of speed, Anthony Azzopardi is in Box 8 (with TATTOOED), everywhere you look, there’s a live chance. And there’s a few speed dogs and a few strong dogs. I’ve only got a tiny bit of experience in big races now but when you’re behind the boxes in these finals, it feels different and I think the dogs understand that as well and that plays a role.
Jim’s best asset is his early speed, that’s no secret, so if he happens to lead, I’ll just be praying he can hold on in the last 50m because we saw what happened in the Bulli Gold Cup final with Nangar Larry running him down. I don’t mind Box 6 because I think Irinka Daniel is one of the only dogs who takes a few strides to get going. Jim will need some clear air in the first three hops to be a chance but everywhere I’ve taken this dog, he’s gone better as the series has gone on so I have some confidence he will improve again in the Temora final.
We drew lucky number seven and I give him a very slim chance. He’s going good and he’s been in some decent form of late but he just hasn’t got the knockout punch that some of the others have got. If he can get on the podium, we’d class it as a success but how can you go past Nangar Larry?
I was very happy with the heat run and it was a very gutsy effort to nearly run down a Group 1 winner (History’s Coming). I drove home very pleased.
It’s a red hot final and I know it’s a dog race and anything can happen, but it’s very hard to see Nangar Larry getting beaten. There is a lot of speed drawn down on the inside though so if our guy is to have any chance, they all need to jam up so he can get the fly around the outside. Being wide, we rely on a little bit of luck but if he finds the front swinging for home, I don’t think they’ll be able to run him down.
Daniel Pell gave me the dog and he had a big opinion of him. He wanted me to travel with him because he thought he could reach some big heights. This is the next step on that path but he’s going to be a pretty dog in the next 3-4 months.
The Ladbrokes Temora Cup, a Group 3 event worth $40,000 to the winner, will be run on Sunday, March 10.
