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  • Friday, 21 Feb, 2020,
  • by Gerard Guthrie

Braden Braced for sweet Sale success

Curiously named youngster Brace And Bits will be chasing an overdue provincial feature victory in Sunday night’s El Grand Senor Classic Final (440m) at Sale.

Trained by Braden Finn, who raced former superstar stayer Sweet It Is, Brace And Bits has impressed in winning six of his 13 starts but has missed out in two previous cracks at a lucrative provincial purse.

After finishing unplaced in both the Sale Rising Star and Warrnambool Summer Sizzle finals, Brace And Bits is striving to make it third time lucky in Sale’s $7000 to-the-winner Classic, named after local 2010 Melbourne Cup hero El Grand Senor.

“He’s a good dog,” said Finn of Brace And Bits.

“He’s probably the best chaser I’ve ever had. He’s a dynamite chaser.

“He has a pretty explosive turn of foot but he can miss the kick and then lets rip after about 20 metres, so he’s always going to need a bit of luck.

“He looks like being a good U-turn dog but I’m not sure whether he’ll run 500m or not. But he’s not two until the end of March and he’s getting stronger. He was only a 400m dog three months ago.”

Brace And Bits produced the standout heat performance last Sunday, leading throughout from box six in a best of night 24.79s.

WATCH: Brace And Bits’ heat win at Sale on Sunday from box six.

The other two heats were won by Terren’s Close (Chris Johannsen) in 24.97s and Aston Lopez (Rod Clark) in 25.04s.

Brace And Bits will be confronted by another tough alley in the decider after drawing box five.

“He ran the fastest heat so if he repeats that he’s a chance for sure but he needs a clear run,” Finn said.

“It’s another good field. There are a couple of dogs that have good experience, with around 20 starts, like Aston Lopez. They’re pretty decent dogs for a race like this but you’ve got to be in it to win it.

“He’s been in two $10,000 finals and Sunday’s race is worth $7000. It’s really good to see GRV putting on these races with the opportunity to win good prizemoney with young U-turn dogs.”

The El Grand Senor Puppy Classic is race 8 at Sunday evening’s Sale meeting, to jump at 7.57pm.

Why is the race called the El Grand Senor Classic? El Grand Senor was inducted into GRV’s Hall Of Fame in 2017 but sadly passed away in 2018. So please, take a look at what made this great dog, well… great.

Gerard GuthrieGerard Guthrie

Gerard Guthrie

One of Australia’s leading greyhound racing journalists since 2000 with the Greyhound Recorder and now with Greyhound Racing Victoria. Part-owner 2013 Group 1 Paws Of Thunder winner Sheikha. (The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of GRV)

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