Leading Victorian greyhound trainer Andrea Dailly will boast strength in numbers as she strives to continue her recent domination of the Group 1 TAB Australian Cup (525m) at The Meadows on Saturday night.
Dailly has won the Australian Cup four times since 2010, courtesy of Dyna Lachlan (2010), Spud Regis (2013), the great Dyna Double One (2016) and last year with Hecton Bale.
The Anakie mentor’s two contenders this year also carry the Dyna prefix – litter mates Dyna Patty (box 1) and Dyna Oscar (box 3).
Dyna Patty, already a Group 1 winner at The Meadows, taking out the Maturity last July, is the $4.20 second elect in TAB’s market, behind Melbourne Cup hero My Redeemer (box 2) at $3.60, while fastest qualifier Bago Bye Bye (box 4) is a $7.50 chance.
“The more the merrier,” Andrea’s husband Tom Dailly laughed. “We’ve had some success in the race but that’s more to do with the calibre of the dog. They’ve got to have the ability to win and Dyna Patty does have the ability but so do the other seven dogs.”
Dyna Patty ticks plenty of boxes, with her strong-finishing 29.67sec heat victory a new personal best at The Meadows, while she’s won four of her six career starts out of box one.
“She won the Maturity from the red, so hopefully she can do the same thing on Saturday night,” Dailly said.
“She’d had a bit of a break before the heats and I was hoping she would hit her straps upon return and she did. It was the right time to do it.
“She’d had a couple of trials and she’d been trialling really well. We were hoping for a clear run in her heat and she stormed home. We’re hoping for a clear run again in the final.”
Dyna Oscar also recorded a new PB at The Meadows when winning his heat in 29.94sec; however Dailly concedes the $41 outsider faces an uphill task to repeat the dose.
Tonight’s three Australian Cup placegetters will share in $357,000 including $250,000 to the winner.
