Leading local trainer Tracie Price, of Compton, looks to have come up with another Mount Gambier Cup contender in the form of Chuck Rocks.
Having his first race start at Tara Raceway on Sunday in the Carlin & Gazzard MG Stake (512 m), the son of Fernando Bale x Rhonda Rocks gained a run as a reserve after Mrs. Watson was scratched from box one.
Raced by Adelaide owner Tyson Panagiotou, Chuck Rocks found his way down to Price’s kennels after a couple of indiscretions. The brindle dog went into yesterday’s grade six on the back of a recent quick 29.61 seconds satisfactory trial.
The August 2019 brindle dog was having only his 13th start yesterday after having previously won first-up at Shepparton over 450 metres back in June last year.
And the litter brother to Angle Park 730 metre record holder Frankie Boy never looked in any danger of defeat on Sunday when leading all the way to defeat Spring Phoebe by 4¼ lengths in a best of day 29.46 seconds.
Jason Newman’s Departure Gate will head to the Mount Gambier Cup on the back of a personal best time of 29.53 seconds after leading all the way to defeat Midnight Blast in the Tara Tipsters Thrift Shop Open (512 m).
In what was an interesting tussle, David Peckham’s Midnight Blast also ran a personal best 29.58 seconds when going down by three-quarters of a length.
Mr. Ticket, runner-up to Weblec Ranger in the recent Murray Bridge Cup, should be better for Sunday’s run when he defeated the front-running Nero Valentino in the Commercial Hotel Stake (512 m) by a nose in 29.70 seconds.
Owned by Panagiotou and trained at Lewiston by Ben Rawlings, the son of Fernando Bale x Ms. Ticket was only fairly away from box six before finding trouble on the first turn. From then on it was a case of having to work hard to gain the win.
From a Mount Gambier Cup point of view, Rawlings was last at Tara Raceway in 2016 when Caustic Bale won a heat before finishing sixth in the final as a $3 favourite behind Mojito Mayhem.
Mary Bridget, a winner of four races over 512 metres at Tara Raceway, could be ready for a cup start after another impressive 400 metre win on Sunday over Cryer’s Spring by 4¾ lengths in a best of day 22.80 seconds.
Trained at Worrolong by Steve Bartholomew, the brindle bitch is by Flying Stanley out of Galactic Cat, a half-sister to 2019 Mount Gambier Cup winner Galactic Athena, also trained by Bartholomew.