The Group 1 Ladbrokes National Futurity will be run and won at Wentworth Park this Saturday night. Here’s our preview of the $75,000 final:
Taormina | Jodie Lord
Breeding: Fernando Bale x Ritza Millie
Best Wentworth Park 520m Time: 29.74
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 5.42
Track & Distance Record: 2: 0-2-0
Box 1 History: 1: 0-1-0 Fernando Bale x Ritza Millie
Ladbrokes Price: $6.50
Final Thought: Taormina is giving away a fair bit of experience to her rivals with only the four career starts to her name but she’s a greyhound on the rise. Two of her runs have been at Wenty Park and although she’s yet to win there, both efforts have been full of merit. The half-sister to Group 1 winner Ritza Donna was beaten by Laura Keeping on January 2 by half a length but the time of 29.74 would certainly have her in the mix on Saturday night. Goes well early so Box 1 is a big tick and should lead them into the first bend.
Taormina ran 19.60 on debut at Goulburn in November
Zipping Serrano | Minnie Finn
Breeding: Zipping Garth x Zipping Pepper
Best Wentworth Park 520m Time: 29.79
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 5.44
Track & Distance Record: 9: 3-0-0
Box 2 History: 3: 3-0-0
Ladbrokes Price: $7
Final Thought: Zipping Serrano has an eerily similar profile to last year’s Futurity winner for the Finn kennel, Gets Late Early. Serrano is having her 16th start in the final, Gets Late Early won the race in her 19th start. Both had won six races leading into the Group 1 feature and the Wenty Park PB’s at that stage of their careers were almost identical (29.79 for Serrano and 29.75 for Gets Late Early). Will get a beautiful run into the first bend and will likely land on the back of early leader Taormina and is the best Finn chance in the race.
Final Thought: Not only is she the youngest greyhound in the race, she’s also the second fastest around Wentworth Park. Debuted in the Maitland Future Stars maiden late last year where she had no luck, but since she came to Wenty Park, she’s been almost flawless. Six starts for four wins and two seconds, with her only defeats coming to phenom Great Terms and the talented Zipping Koster. The last four winners of the Futurity have come from Box 3 (Gets Late Early, Wyndra All Class, Idolize, Zipping Sapporo) and no victor has come from Box 5 or wider since 2015.
Final Thought: She’s the most experience greyhound in the race with 32 starts and that counts for something in an age-restricted feature. Wenty Park record doesn’t jump off the page with only three wins from nine efforts (albeit a lot of starts against better graded dogs) but she’s bulletproof from the alley and connections were tickled pink with Box 4. Showed great early pace in the heats (5.41) and if she can handle the run through the catching pen a bit better, she could jostle with Taormina for the lead. Five winners of this race have come from Box 4 since 2014.
My Monroe | Susan Smith
Breeding: Aston Rupee x My Sapphire
Best Wentworth Park 520m Time: 29.92
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 5.40
Track & Distance Record: 9: 2-2-0
Box 5 History: 4: 2-1-0
Ladbrokes Price: $21
Final Thought: Another greyhound with pretty good early pace but she can’t win if she doesn’t lead and Box 5, despite her good record in yellow, doesn’t help the cause either. Just don’t see how she gets across both Screaming Violet or Taormina in particular and with some of the race fancies coming down and across from out wide, she will well and truly get squeezed at the first bend. The Smith/Miles kennel continues to punch above their weight though and they did produce a surprise winner of the Young Star last year with a similar jump and run racing style.
My Monroe with handler Tahnee Barnett-Murray
Zipping Mayer | Minnie Finn
Breeding: Zipping Garth x Zipping Pepper
Best Wentworth Park 520m Time: 29.65
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 5.41
Track & Distance Record: 15: 3-3-3
Box 6 History: 3: 0-1-0
Ladbrokes Price: $31
Final Thought: The second Finn runner in the final, Zipping Mayer has a similar profile to her sister. Maybe she’s a bit quicker off the mat but not by much, and she’s had plenty of starts at Wenty Park (15) to know the place inside out. Has been dreadfully unlucky with box draws during her short career (has only got Box 1 or 2 twice in her 19 starts) and if she was drawn inside, she’d probably be a good podium chance. Too much speed about to know where she lands through the first bend and the market reflects that as the outsider of the field.
Peloponnese | Jodie Lord
Breeding: Aussie Infrared x Nikolina
Best Wentworth Park 520m Time: 29.66
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 5.48
Track & Distance Record: 10: 2-2-3
Box 7 History: 4: 1-1-1
Ladbrokes Price: $6.50
Final Thought: Second of the Lord runners and she is the oldest in the field. Was sent to the Lord’s by Ange Della Bosca after racing almost exclusively in the State’s south at Goulburn and Wagga Wagga in her early days but has since had seven straight starts in town for two wins and four minors. Her last two in particular have been very sharp (29.66 and 29.77) and she was a determined runner-up behind Laura Keeping in the heats. She goes from Box 1 in the preliminaries to Box 7 for the final and that will be her undoing in my opinion.
Peloponnese with handler Ray Dixon
Sooty Keeping | Charmaine Roberts
Breeding: Feral Franky x Rema’s Jade
Best Wentworth Park 520m Time: 29.40
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 5.41
Track & Distance Record: 7: 4-1-2
Box 8 History: 3: 0-1-1
Ladbrokes Price: $2.20
Final Thought: If the best version of Sooty Keeping shows up on Saturday night, she will win the National Futurity with a leg in the air. If the girl who misses the start terribly arrives at Wenty Park instead though, she’s no chance in hell after drawing the carpark for the final. Either Charmaine Roberts is foxing or she genuinely has no idea why Sooty is so hit and miss at box rise. She flew around Gosford two back in 29.05 to win the Gosford Cup consolation, and won the listed ‘Collerson’ at Wenty in 29.47 in December. But either side of those runs she hasn’t been at her usual standard. Her best is lengths better than these…but can she bring it this weekend?
