Out to make mayhem
HE was once pencilled in as “a country cups dog”, but Kouta Mayhem will have his crack at a share of the prizemoney in the world’s richest greyhound race tonight.
The Avalon-trained greyhound has won his past two, taking his record to 14 wins from 25 starts, giving trainers Jason and Jessica Sharp no option but to run him in tonight’s Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park.
“We always thought he was just going to be a country cups dog, but because he’s been so good, you had to have a go at it,” Jason Sharp said.
“You can’t leave a dog like that sitting in the kennel.
“It is tough but it’s an absolute dream come true to be in the race. It’s like Olympians going to the Olympics or people representing Australia.
“It’s what everyone hopes to get to and we can’t even believe we’re there.”
A top prize of $420,000 is up for grabs, and while Kouta Mayhem is not in the top few fancies, Sharp said the twoyear-old would improve from his heat win last Friday night.
“I was really happy with the run. I thought the track got a lot quicker over the night and he hasn’t had many 500m runs, so he’s getting more grounded and improving every time he goes around,” he said.
“He can miss it some times but he does have a lot of early speed once he hits the ground.
“Hopefully he jumps with them Friday night and hopefully gets to the front by the first turn; that’s the plan.”
But Sharp said he would not pin his hopes on Kouta Mayhem taking out a Group 1 field.
“You always hope to win but I’m not putting any pressure on expecting him to win,” he said.
“There are seven other dogs in the race and whoever has a bit of luck is going to win the race.”
One of those other greyhounds is Up Hill Jill, trained by Lara’s David Geall.
Geall joined Sharp in his excitement about making the rich final.
“I felt a massive thrill straight after the race, that we’ve made a Melbourne Cup,” he said.
“To win the Melbourne Cup would be the ultimate achievement. I think from then on everything else we do in greyhound racing would be icing on the cake.”