West Australian stayer We The People stormed into RSN Sandown Cup calculations with a brilliant last-to-first victory on her Sandown Park debut tonight.
Despite arriving in Victoria having placed in all six runs over 715m at Cannington – including running second to Zack Monelli in the group 1 Galaxy – We The People was sent to the boxes a $5.10 chance after drawing box 8. She was a clear last out of the boxes and after riding bump early, was still six lengths from the leader with a lap to go.
With a clear run down the back, We The People swept around the field to assume the lead with 150m to go and from there was never challenged, storming to a 3½ length win in a slick 41.82.
Caretaker trainer Jamie Ennis was delighted with the performance and believed there was further improvement to come ahead of a tilt at the $250,000 RSN Sandown Cup heats on Thursday 27th May.
“Sean sent her over in terrific order and I basically just had to turn up and she’s done the job,” he said.
“Just going back on her Perth form, it seemed that the more runs she had at Cannington the better she got. As you saw tonight, she still got lost a little bit mid-race and had to negotiate a few dogs. I’m sure time wise she can go a bit quicker but obviously she’ll have to when the group 1 dogs turn up.”
The win not only halved her quote to win the RSN Sandown Cup – she firmed from $51 to $26 with TAB – the time also elevated We The People to fifth place in the Speed Star match race standings, much to the delight of the ownership group.
“And so they should be – they sent their pride and joy across to have a crack at the good races, and if you’re not excited about that you may as well not have them.”
We The People is the latest Western Australian trained greyhound to make an impression on this side of the Nullabor. Earlier in the night, Sunset Spitfire has his first look at Sandown Park in an exhibition trial between races, running 29.25 and consolidating his standing as $8 equal favourite for the Harrison-Dawson, a position he shares with fellow Western Australian and the sport’s newest millionaire, Tommy Shelby. Meanwhile group 1 Galaxy winner Zack Monelli – second favourite for the RSN Sandown Cup – will round out his Cup preparations with an exhibition trial over 595m on Sunday. It’s anticipated he’ll set a time that will have him at the pointy end of the Speed Star standings.
In other highlights from the night’s racing;
– Lakeview Walter’s unbeaten record at Sandown Park ended at 5 after he was unable to reel in the impressive Dr Madison in race 8
– Best of the night honours went to Jepara when he prevailed in an enthralling battle with He Shall Rodger in race 5
– The reserve Substantial gained a start as a reserve in race 1 and landed himself in the black book after scoring in 29.37 at just his fourth career start. Interestingly, the time was the third fastest wining time by a reserve outside of Speed Star events
– 73 year old Kevin Quinn landed his first city winner when Ollie saluted in the final event
Click here for full replays and results.
Click here for exhibition trial replays and results.
