Kiwi star aiming for Aussie title


After a long stint on the sidelines Above All is set and primed ahead of this Thursday night’s Victorian National Sprint final.aboveall13nov14 cropped

Back in February the Rob Britton trained Above All suffered an injury that proved to be the first of many set backs on his return to the race track.

“He originally tore his monkey muscle, then when he recovered from that he damaged a tendon, then did his monkey muscle again,” said kennel representative Peter Riley.

“When an elite athlete comes back from injury, does he run flat out as hard as he can or does he ease into it? This bloke (Above All) is a bit of a lunatic in his work runs – he goes flat out and you can’t hold him back. We went through a stage where we had to keep him on a lead and work him up as slowly as we could.”

After a five month layoff the dual group 1 winner returned to racing mid July in devastating fashion trouncing his rivals to win in a fast 29.25 though neither the win nor the time was of concern to the team.

“It was heart in mouth stuff. We’ve been in group finals but this was the most nervous I’ve ever been at the track, as long as he pulled up ok I was happy and fortunately he did. I think the spell did him the world of good, I really didn’t expect him to go that quick first up and the track was a little slow on the day.”

Above All’s owners Merv O’Brien and Alison Lee hail from Rangiora, have enjoyed previous success in Australia when Clone Your Own won the 2013 Harrison-Dawson at Sandown Park.

“Merv and Alison sent over Clone Your Own a couple of years ago, and they told us they had one in the kennel who’s better – after his first trial Robbie came home and said ‘we’ve got something special here.’”

The pair is passionate and proud of all their greyhounds and never miss a feature race flying across the Tasman to watch their star.

“They fly over all for the big finals, they don’t have a big team at home but they absolutely love their dogs and they’d do anything for them.”

Many greyhounds have called Rob Britton’s Lara kennel home over the years, and Riley believes Above All has done enough to be labeled the best.

“I’d say he’s the best greyhound Rob has ever trained and I think he’s got potential to improve. If we can get his box manners spot on he’s capable of anything.”

Above All is set to jump from box six in Thursday night’s Victorian National Sprint final with the monumental task of defeating arguably the best of all time in Fernando Bale.

“It’s going to take either a freak run from our bloke, or I hate to say it but something bad to happen to Fernando which no one wants to see. If he (Fernando Bale) happens to miss the start a little bit I think we’re right in this – if he (Above All) can jump like he did in the Hobart Thousand then we’ve got a race.”

Above All is rated a $9.50 chance to take out the Victorian National Sprint final, click here for the latest TAB.com.au market.
Sandown Park is giving one patron the chance to fly to Sydney for the National Sprint Championship simply by being on course on Thursday night. Click here to find out how.

Click here for Thursday night’s fields and form guides.

Above All (1) runs second to Margins (2) in heat 3 of the Vic. National Sprint