Fernando Bale has opened a $1.20 favourite for Thursday night’s group 3 Bill Collins in what shapes as one of the great races in Sandown Park’s 59 year history.
The three time group 1 winner has won his last nine races – all in the best time of the night – including last week’s group 1 Harrison-Dawson in race record time. However he will meet the stiffest test of his 22 race career on Thursday night when he comes up against seven of the best greyhounds in the country.
Lamia Bale, winning of the group 1 Sapphire Crown at Sandown Park last Thursday – also in race record time – is second in betting as she seeks a fourth group win at Sandown Park.
Dyna Villa returns to the View Road circuit for the first time since his memorable TAB Melbourne Cup in November last year. A win on Thursday night would take his career earnings to $731,873 and to within $12,000 of Xlyia Allen’s Australian record. Dyna Villa has never lost in 8 attempts at Sandown Park.
Luca Neveelk, a Melbourne Cup finalist and winner of over $500,000 in prize money, will jump form box 4, the same box from which he won the group 1 Australian Cup at the Meadows in March.
Group 2 Launching Pad winner Usain I’m Nutty has won six of 12 at Sandown Park and has been placed on four other occasions. One of his two unplaced runs came last week when fourth behind Fernando Bale in last week’s Harrison-Dawson.
Elfen Bale, the litter sister to Fernando Bale, is a group race winner in her own right having won the group 3 Ladies Bracelet in Sydney before returning to Melbourne where she finished sixth to Lamia Bale in the Sapphire Crown final.
While the final two runners in the field – Weston East and Spring Leaf – are yet to break through at group level, both have finished runner up in group 1 events.
Combined, the field has won 126 races, has appeared 37 group races – winning 14 – and accumulated over $2.49m in prize money.
The group 3 Bill Collins Memorial will run at 8.52pm and is the main support race for the world’s richest race for stayers, the $250,000 group 1 RSN Sandown Cup. Entry is free and gates open at 6.00pm.
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