Sandown has received 13 outstanding nominations for its inaugural $61,000 Speed Star series.
Full On Bling heads the nomination list with a best time of 29.15, however the final field will not be determined until Sunday afternoon when six greyhounds – coincidently the bottom six on the order of entry – trial between races in order to try and improve their standings.
Sandown Racing and Media Manager Michael Floyd is excited by the quality of the greyhounds nominated for the series. “It is a very open series, and all 13 nominated dogs are capable of amazing times and being crowned the 2015 Speed Star,” he said.
Disappointingly for greyhound fans, chasing sensation Fernando Bale was not among the final nominations. The six time group 1 winner will bypass the series in order to prepare for the group 1 Adelaide Cup heats at Angle Park on Thursday 1 October.
“It’s purely timing,” said co-trainer Tom Dailly.
“He’s in the Traralgon Cup final on Saturday night, and there are a lot of big races coming up including the Adelaide Cup in a fortnight, then onto the Topgun and Melbourne Cup. We discussed it a lot here and spoke to his owner Paul Wheeler and ultimately decided it would be in his best interests in the longer term to skip the Speed Star.”
Despite the absence of the white and brindle superstar, the club is confident of a spectacular series of head to head races and some scintillating times, “We’d have loved to see Fernando Bale add to his exceptional record at Sandown Park, but we understand and respect the decision of the kennel. The series is unique, will appeal to new racing fans and we can’t wait to see it come to fruition.” Floyd said.
The eight fastest qualifiers will race off in pairs with the winner of each match receiving $10,000, and the greyhound that records the fastest time picking up an additional $15,000. The series will be conducted as race 3 on the card, and all four matches will be run within half an hour.
Visit www.rapidfireracing.com.au for full trial and racing information.
