EMOTIONS TO FORE AS WYNBURN EYES CUP
GREYHOUND trainer Ben Englund will have to rein in his emotions if his talented sprinter Wynburn Ruby can win the Group 2 Ladbrokes Launceston Cup over 515 metres at the Mowbray Racing Centre on Saturday night.
Wynburn Ruby has earned the role of favourite on the strength of her impressive heat win last Monday night with the daughter of Fernando Bale-Wynburn Cutie clocking a time of 29.34 seconds which was clearly the best of the seven heat winners.
She has drawn box one on the final that lifted Englund’s spirits as he has had runners in big finals so often only for them to have drawn poor boxes.
“She has drawn box one so that’s a great start and it makes a nice change, but she has come from nowhere this past month to be in a Group 2 final,” Englund said. “After she won the Shane Yates Memorial, she suffered an injury, and she was in a cast for a month and then spent four months rehabilitating. I took her to Hobart for three trials and her times were fairly ordinary so I was starting to wonder if she would ever get back to where she was before the injury.
“But when I took her to Launceston to trial she went enormous. She then ran third at his first run back and then she did what she did in her cup heat on Monday night. To come this far in the space of four weeks is amazing, so if she takes out the final it will be the most memorable win since I’ve been involved with greyhounds.”
The second fastest of the heat winners was Victorian entry Elite Alex that stopped the clock at 29.54s on his way to an effortless win over last year’s Launceston Cup winner Hilltop Jack.
But the black dog has to content with box five that could be a huge disadvantage if Devonport Chase winner Rojo Diamond flies the lids from box six and crosses him.
Rojo Diamond impressed in winning his heat from box six and should he emerge triumphant, his connections will take home a $25,000 cash bonus.
Ladbrokes funded a Triple Treat Bonus of $100,000 for any dog that could win the Devonport Chase, Hobart Thousand and Launceston Cup, but added a consolation bonus of $25,000 for any dog that could win any two of the three feature races.
The Paul Hili-trained Fast Minardi caused a minor boilover when he won his heat star Tasmanian Nail’em Fencer and Hobart Thousand winner Fernando Mick.
Fernando Mick and Nail’em Fencer looked set to fight out the finish of their heat when they booted five lengths clear, but Fast Minardi rattled home to win by almost a half-length. Fast Minardi has again drawn box seven and will need a lot of luck, but if he is within striking distance heading down the back stretch, he could win without surprising.
The Eileen Thomas-trained Nyah Nyah Flyer has been progressing nicely since contesting the Hobart Thousand series in December and his heat win was effortless, although his time of 29.86 was pedestrian compared to that of Wynburn Ruby.
The Launceston Cup will be run as race seven on the 10-event card and is scheduled to start at 9.42pm.