Thursday, February 20, 2020

Portland trainer Andy Graham will be chasing his first feature win at the local track when he lines up with litter sisters Rose Bay and Bay Me in Sunday’s Summer Classic final (512 m), an age-restricted event for dogs and bitches whelped on or after January 1, 2018.

And while the box draw hasn’t done him or his exciting pair of pups too many favours, Graham said the daughters of Nitro Burst and Lots Of Yap just kept getting better each week.

“Rose Bay had been over the distance only twice and to be honest I was really pleased with her third placing in her heat. As far as her run last week was concerned, I certainly couldn’t have asked for much more,” he said.

Graham now believes his pair’s chances to be pretty even after Rose Bay drew box one and Bay Me out wide in box seven.

“Bay Me loves the rails so she’s going to need a bit of luck from her draw. Generally, Perseverance (box eight) is slow out so that could help her but there’s plenty of pace inside her so it’s going to be interesting to see if she can get across.

“What I do like about her, though, is that she won’t throw in the towel,” said Graham, who trained his first winner in 2009 with a dog called Cool Elegance.

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