Aston Rupee raced into Launching Pad calculations following his impressive Sandown Park debut this morning.
The $1.10 favourite made light work of the small field, powering to the lead through the first turn to run away to a 7½ length victory in 29.25.
“It was very nice, I’m very happy,” said his delighted trainer Glenn Rounds.
“He had to do the job and he did it.”
Owned by Ray Borda, Aston Rupee is a superbly bred son of KC And All and Borda’s 2017 TAB Melbourne Cup finalist Aston Miley. He won his maiden in a slick 24.95 at Warrnambool before running third in the final and rounded out his preparations for today’s race with an impressive 29.19 trial last Sunday.
Connections have already tabbed the $420,000 Launching Pad, a sweepstakes series for greyhounds with 1-6 wins and no more than 30 starts, as the main aim for Aston Rupee.
“Ray’s got a ticket (for the Launching Pad), so that’s the target. He’s won two races now so we have a few wins up our sleeve to get him some more experience between now and the heats, but that’s definitely the way we’re steering.
“We’ll probably go to Ballarat for the Derby heats (on Wednesday 3 February), but we’ll let him recover and plan around it. We’ve got plenty of time now.”
The heats of the Launching Pad will be run on Thursday 18 March with the final of the series on Thursday 1 April. Limited ticket remain, click here for purchasing information and full terms and conditions.
Click here for full results from today’s meeting.
