Anthony Azzopardi has high hopes for rising star Myrniong And All but he’s in no hurry to tackle the big boys of the Victorian sprinting ranks.
While Azzopardi flirted with the idea of throwing his exciting youngster in the deep end in next month’s Group 2 Ballarat Cup, he’s instead decided to target Saturday night’s Casey Sprint (311m) at Cranbourne’s City of Casey Tricodes meeting.
Myrniong And All has created a huge impression in winning eight of his first ten starts and he’s the $3 favourite with TAB to continue on his winning way in Cranbourne’s short-course feature.
“He’s a flying machine,” Azzopardi said.
“I’ve got a big opinion of him as a sprinter but I haven’t pushed him to his limit yet.
“He can run amazing sections but at this stage I’d say he’ll probably run out of gas after 450m.
“I’m hoping he’ll make a country cups dog. I was thinking about the Ballarat Cup but it might be a bit soon for him, so the plan after Saturday is to take him up to NSW for a 350m race at Goulburn.”
After winning his last start at Warragul from box eight, a bullish Azzopardi says Myrniong And All is “beautifully” boxed in the pink for the Casey Sprint.
However, he will be conceding plenty of experience to each of his seven rivals, most notably the Steve Collins-trained Dyna Winter, which boasts an impressive 16 from 37 strike rate but will have to contend with box six.
“Myrniong And All is boxed perfectly,” said Azzopardi.
“I was hoping he’d draw wide because it should allow him to really burn down the outside.
“He’s not very experienced at Cranbourne but I trialled him there on Monday and he went really well, although he didn’t handle the first turn so well.
“It looks like a nice race for him, although I can’t remember the last time I had a runner over 300m. It’s been a very long time and it might even have been Myrniong And All’s mother, Eastern Culture. She was a speed machine too but she had a bad toe.”
Angela Langton’s 95-start veteran Hit The Highway heads TAB’s market on the other greyhound feature on Cranbourne’s unique tri-code card, the President’s Cup over 699m.
The first of eight greyhound races will be run at 6.30pm, while the meeting will also feature seven-event thoroughbred and harness programs.
Gates open at 4.30pm.
