Champion greyhound sprinter Striker Light is one of the main fancies heading into Friday night’s $67,000 Group 2 Triple M Bendigo Cup (425m).
The triple Group 1 winner is the most decorated runner in the field, and she recorded an impressive heat win from box one on Sunday in 23.82sec, albeit running three lengths inferior to the fastest heat winner, Big Flood (23.64sec).
Trainer Brett Bravo said Striker Light has plenty of upside given it was her first race since winning the Warrnambool Cup in early May.
“She had a limited preparation leading into her Bendigo Cup heat after overcoming an injury to a triangle muscle, so I think she has a heap of improvement in her,” Bravo said.
Striker Light will find herself drawn on the opposite side of the track in the final after coming up with box eight.
“The good thing about being in box eight is she can make her own luck out there,” Bravo said. “She has plenty of early speed and she pulled up perfectly after her heat win. It’s a very even field but she’s in with a good chance.”
Striker Light, a winner of 28 races from 57 starts, is Australia’s tenth all-time highest prize money earner ($694,650). A win in the Bendigo Cup – which includes a first prize of $47,000 – will see her climb into eighth spot.
Striker Light finished fourth in the 2017 Bendigo Cup. She is the equal TAB favourite with Big Flood at $3, followed by NSW star Black Forge at $6.
