Thursday, March 21, 2019
If any credence can be given to recent trial morning reports then Galactic Titan and Spring Value should be the ones to beat in the heats of Sunday’s Produce Store Feature Maiden heats (512 metres) at Tara Raceway.
By Paddy Whacker out of Galactic Rumball, Galactic Titan is from a litter that keeps on coming up with winners, litter sisters Galactic Athena and Galactic Mojo set to contest Fairthorne Forestry Mount Gambier Cup heats later on Sunday.
Owned and trained at Moorak by Robert Chuck, Galactic Titan, a 19-month-old first-starter, will probably face most opposition from the seasoned maiden performer Tee Tee.
A litter sister to the Go Commando, winner of last October’s Group 2 $47,000-to-the-winner TAB Great Chase final (525 m) at The Meadows, Tee Tee is trained at Landsborough by Nathan Jenner.
Tee Tee, a daughter of Bombastic Shiraz x Especially, is still trying to win a race after 27 starts that have resulted in seven minor placings but does finish off her races strongly.
Spring Value, owned and trained at Killarney by Kevin Mugavin, looks well placed in the second heat after running third over 390 metres at Warrambool earlier this month.
Whelped in March 2017, the brindle dog is by Spring Gun out of Magic Matese and traces back, as in fact does Galactic Titan, to the September 1977 Temlee x Dark Debutante litter that included the Mugavin-owned Val Matese.
Mugavin has enjoyed previous success at Mount Gambier Cup carnivals, Poetic Magic winning the 2006 cup while Rich Shiraz was successful in 2012 in race record time of 29.81 seconds – both greyhounds also going back to Val Matese.
And in 2015 Cheap Currency, a son of Poetic Magic, won the Banjo Boy Feature 600 metre final in track record time of 35.11 seconds.
It’s now going to be interesting to see whether this year’s Produce Store Feature Maiden series can go close to matching that of 2018 when the Greg Board trained Spring Bridge scored an amazing 16 length win in the final in 29.63 seconds.