Feral Franky can break a three year drought when he lines up in Sunday’s Bill Collins Speed Star.
Now in its eighth edition, the Speed Star is a match race series that brings together the country’s fastest chasers to race head to head and against the clock for a share of $190,000 in prize money. No New South Wales trained greyhound has won a Speed Star event since Smart Missile took out the inaugural series in 2015, however Ray Smith is hoping that will change when his popular youngster Feral Franky takes on series favourite (and New South Wales owned) Midnight Dare in the third match of the main series.
Fresh from his group 3 New Sensation victory at Wentworth Park, Feral Franky qualified for the match race series after trialling 29.271 during the final qualification session last Sunday, a gallop made all the more impressive given it was his first look at the track and the conditions on the day.
“The 700m dogs didn’t (the first round of triallers on the day) go that well, it didn’t look conducive (to fast times) at that time,” he told Sky Racing Radio.
“But there’s a saying in Melbourne – if you don’t like the weather wait 10 minutes and that’s what happened. There was as stiff cool breeze when the stayers went around and by the time we came to the sprinters it was a bit calmer and looked a little bit better. We were hoping to get in and we did, he went well.”
Feral Franky’s trial was the fastest of that final session, and it is notable that the winner of the first four Speed Star series were claimed by the fastest greyhound in that final trial session. However Smith acknowledges that his charge will have to be at the top of his game to defeat Midnight Dare, who qualified with a brilliant 29.173 trial the previous Sunday.
“For him to beat her, he goes through the middle section really quick so he’ll have to jump on terms or not be too far away and hopefully get underneath her at the first turn and put a break on her.
“He needs to find a bit out of the boxes from the trial the other day or he’ll be doing it a bit tough (he went 5.17 compared to Midnight Dare’s 5.03). But we’re hoping he will and he’ll certainly be doing his best – he always does.
“I don’t know whether we can beat her but we’ll certainly give her a run for her money.”
Feral Franky is rated a $3 chance to defeat Midnight Dare in their match. Click here for the latest odds.
The Speed Star is greyhound racing’s newest and most exciting format, bringing together 40 of the country’s fastest chasers racing head to head and against the clock. Prize money is awarded to the winner of each match as well as to the greyhound that records the fastest time in each of the five series.
TAB.com.au is offering a range of markets across the night, including the overall winner of each event, head to head markets and a range of special markets including fastest first splits, winning time over/under and winning boxes.
The first match will jump at 5.24pm on Sunday 5 May, entry is free and patrons will have the chance to win $10,000 in our ‘Tip The Card’ competition, or $500 in our Last Man Standing competition.
For those unable to get to the track, a special showcase presentation of the Speed Star will be shown on Sky Racing 2 from 5pm, live and FREE to all Foxtel subscribers.
Click here for further information about how the Speed Star works, the full line up of matches, and links to current markets.
Click here for special Speed Star form guide
Smart Missile wins the inaugural Speed Star in a race record 29.006 seconds – the fourth fastest time ever recorded at the track
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Grenfell takes Chancer over 715m
Embye out of Lizrene Speed Star
Flood of money for Midnight Dare
