Locally trained greyhounds Wild Banker, Federal Flash and Hooked On Love, along with the Worrolong-owned Divine Nature, will make up half the field of Sunday night’s Group 3 Murray Bridge Cup final (455 metres).
This follows the running of last night’s keenly contested heats.
Compton-based Tracie Price has Wild Banker and Hooked On Love through to the $36,000 final. He also trains the second reserve, Myall Mate.
Bred and owned in NSW by George Kairouz, Wild Banker led all the way from box eight in the sixth and final heat when defeating Dash Of Blue by 2½ lengths in 25.56 seconds.
By US sire Need My Moneynow out of Wild Marilyn, Wild Banker has now won four races this year including the $10,000 Summer Classic (512 m) at Mount Gambier in January.
Hooked On Love, who is raced by father and son team Craig and Tanner Ahl in partnership with Matt Trzeciak, made it through to the final after running a three length second to Adhana Rico in 25.51 seconds – the fastest of the heats.
Well back early from box seven, the son of Hooked On Scotch x Love Made Me – having only his fifth run back from a long lay-off and chasing his first win since September – clocked a personal time of 25.73 seconds.
Federal Flash, trained at Allendale East by David Peckham for Adelaide owners Dwayne Jiggins and Mathew Fensom, led all the way from box six in his heat and defeated Black Viper by 3½ lengths in 25.66 seconds.
Ironically, Black Viper is owned by Peckham and trained in Victoria at Briagolong for him by Matt Clark.
Peckham’s involvement with Jiggins and Fensom actually goes back to 2019 when he trained Dyna Naitch, a winner of 10 races at Mount Gambier, for the pair.
Divine Nature, raced by the Bartholomew family and trained at Rowsley by Matt Lanigan, impressed in his heat. After settling in third spot from box eight, he finished strongly for a one length win over Fantastic Spike in 25.60 seconds.
Bred by Steve Bartholomew, Divine Nature, now a winner of 10 races, is by Blue Moon Rising out of Galactic Destiny, successful six times at Tara Raceway and a litter sister to Galactic Athena, who won the 2019 Mount Gambier Cup.
Box draw for Sunday night’s Daish Irrigation and Fodder Murray Bridge Cup: 1 Hooked On Love, 2 Chapel Road, 3 Will Vanson, 4 Divine Nature, 5 Adhana Rico, 6 Wild Banker, 7 Fantastic Spike, 8 Federal Flash. Res. 9 Dash Of Blue, 10 Myall Mate.
And Greyhound Racing SA will link bonuses to both the Murray Bridge and Mount Gambier Cups. These will include a $5000 bonus if the same greyhound wins both cups and a $5000 trainer bonus if the same trainer can win both cups (SA or interstate or different greyhounds).