Shadale is TAB Melbourne Cup bound following a faultless display of speed and strength last night at Sandown Park.
He began well and had room to accelerate early and lead. He established a three length break down the back straight and given his strength looked awfully hard to beat. He went on to win by by 3¼ lengths in a sharp time of 29.38.
“He’s a lovely dog and has done a great job so far,” said his trainer Jim Redenbach modestly.
Shadale’s win was his first start back over the sprint trip following a short stint over the middle distance competing in series’ at both metropolitan tracks.
“He didn’t quite handle the bend start over 600m, however those runs have strengthened him even more. I think this win proved that.”
The win wasn’t handed to Shadale lightly, he defeated a quality field that included group 1 winners Thirty Talks, Aqua Cheetah and Mister Twister.
“He’s jumped back to a free-for-all, it’s pretty hard for a lot of dogs to adapt but not for this bloke.”
Redenbach’s initial plan wasn’t to nominate Shadale for last night’s meeting, instead he intended to hold off until next Thursday’s fourth and final Melbourne Cup Prelude series.
“Because he pulled up so well I nominated him. I was going to hold him back until next week’s Preludes, but I thought what’s the point of having him stay home, he’s in top condition so we might as well find a race for him.”
Shadale will without doubt meet a hot field in next Thursday’s Prelude series, with some of the country’s top sprinters yet to confirm their eligibility for Cup heats.
Redenbach has 54 years of experience under his belt and is not foreign to having a live chance come Melbourne Cup time. He put the polish on Hot Shot in the late 1990’s, who started favourite in the 1997 Melbourne Cup however was unable to convert.
Redenbach’s brother in-law and manager of owners the Gebecepe Syndicate, Geoff Lance, is also excited by what lays ahead.
“We had Coolan Miss shape up to be a hot chance leading into a Melbourne Cup, unfortunately she went amiss. It’s very exciting to have Shadale going well at this time of the year,” said Lance.
Next Thursday’s Prelude series will act as the perfect entree to Melbourne Cup heats on Friday November 17, widely regarded by purists as the year’s best night of greyhound racing.
The $600,000 TAB Melbourne Cup final will be run on Friday November 24, see superdogs.com.au for more information.
Click here for TAB’s latest Melbourne Cup market
