Joe McFadyen reckons the Ladbrokes Wauchope Cup final is “Elizabeth Fire’s race to lose” despite a potentially sticky Box 1 draw in the $10,000 decider.
The Jason Mackay-trained runner clocked a BON heat time of 30.09 on her way to a dominant victory over former Ipswich Futurity winner Uno Nangar to qualify, with the cherry draw sure to have her favourite for Wednesday night's annual event.
“If Elizabeth Fire comes out under the lids like she did at The Gardens two starts ago, it’ll be game over,” McFadyen suggested.
“It’s that simple, if she begins, thanks for coming. The only issue she might have is it’s a very short run to the first turn at Taree. It’s 3.9 seconds to the bend at Taree for the quickest dogs so they don’t have a lot of time to sort themselves out.
“I don’t think Elizabeth Fire’s first section at Taree the other night of 4.05 will be quick enough to lead the final so she’ll need to go a bit quicker or she could find herself two or three back on the fence which would be big trouble.”
44-year-old McFadyen more hopeful than confident his two heat winners, Screeching and Occulent, can cause a mini-boilover in the Mid North Coast feature.
“Screeching’s run was massive last week. He missed the start and came from last or second last to win,” McFadyen added.
“He was probably four or five lengths off the leaders at one stage and raced wide throughout and still managed to get home. It was one of his most impressive wins actually, so if he can get behind the speed and get through that first bend unscathed, he could unleash late.”
“And Occulent missed the start as well in the heats. He’s a bit of a hit or miss beginner but if he leads, I could see him being a length clear at the winning post and he’d give them something to catch.
“He doesn’t want any further than 525m but he’s a speed dog and he could run a lot quicker to the middle section in the final. He was broken in at Taree but that was actually his first race start there and the silent lure is a bit different so that might have caught him off guard last week.”
“I hate to sit on the fence but I couldn’t split my pair to be honest.”
Screeching with handler Mick Phillips and owners Trent Freeman and Jerome Ballard
The annual Butch Monkley Maiden final will also be contested earlier in the evening, with the $5000 feature headlined by new Taree 300m track record holder Chevy Express.
