For years, the powerful Victorian kennel of Samantha and Correy Grenfell have made a habit of sneaking across the border and pinching the Bidgee Cup at Wagga Wagga.
In the last five editions of the race, a Grenfell runner has won four of them, with Paw Vortex smashing the track record to take it out in 2024.
But despite their domination of the annual Group 3 classic, the kennel hasn’t made too many other forays into NSW territory…until now.
Paw Vortex, Paw Quinby and Paw Octavia are ready to lead the charge for the Grenfell’s in Saturday night’s semi finals of the Ladbrokes Country Classic at Dubbo after qualifying through the Temora heat of the series.
“Paw Vortex was the main dog we targeted at the race. The other two were basically travel dogs so ‘Tex’ is our number one chance going in and I think he can match it with best of them,” Correy said on Tuesday morning.
“He ran third in the Rookie Rebel (600m) last month and he was pretty stiff from Box 8. I think with half a stride more he might have won and that was only his second ever 600m.”
The Grenfell’s idea to step their Silver Chief finalist up over the middle distance coming after five straight unplaced efforts over the sprint trips between December 26 and February 2.
“He came back from the big Wagga win in November and even though he won some good races back in Melbourne, he lost a bit of confidence not long after,” Correy added.
“So, we put him over 600m and it seems to have worked. He can run it out pretty strongly and he’s really hard to get past. He wants the inside so Box 2 suits him...he just needs to be in the top three to win because he won’t come from behind.”
“He’s led every 600m he’s had outside the Rookie Rebel but he hasn’t seen Dubbo which might be a worry because I watched the race on Saturday night and dogs were going everywhere.”
The 11-time winner will also have to deal with series favourite Jungle Johnny (Box 7), as well as Dubbo heat winner Flash On By (Box 1) and the speedy August Bob (Box 8) in what looms as the toughest of the four preliminaries.
Kennelmates Paw Octavia and Paw Quinby might not have the same depth in their qualifiers but have been handed tougher draws.
Octavia will jump from Box 5 in semifinal number two, while Quinby will exit Box 7 in the third semi.
“Octavia has improved dramatically and really quickly and she’s capable of winning. She’s just maturing…she was a bit too much in the kennels and since that’s settled down, her racing pattern has changed and her form stands up,” Correy said.
“And Quinby goes fastest when there’s fast dogs in front of him. He’s not a dog chaser, but when they go quick, he just goes faster and he’s exciting to watch.”
“Vortex is the better dog but in the Temora heat it looked like Quinby was going to go past for a while. When he lobbed up beside him I thought it was all over but Vortex just didn’t give in. Quinby flies under the radar and he’s got group potential written all over him.”
Over what distance that group potential might be uncovered though is a topic Grenfell is keen to debate.
“600m racing for me is sort of a dead-end distance. A lot of dogs can get to 600 but they can’t get to 700,” Correy added.
“I really only use 600m racing as a confidence booster because it helps them get to the front and then we can drop them back again. I guess not every track has a 600m start and apart from the Rookie Rebel and a Hume Cup at The Meadows [which are both Group 1 races], there’s not a lot of 600m feature racing in Victoria. And there’s not a lot of prizemoney interstate worth chasing.”
“Our guy, Mason [Koffman] left home at 9am on Sunday morning for the Temora heat and got home at 5am Monday morning. We’re racing for $100,000 so that’s something we are prepared to do but it’s still a big ask.”
“He’ll stay at the Wheelers place this weekend and come home afterwards which will hopefully make it easier to get to Dubbo and help the dogs perform to their best.”
