Popular Murtoa trainer Heather Baxter will make a four-hour round trip to Ballarat tonight in search of a treble.
Heather has Zetland County, Gypsy Jean and Miss Liberty engaged, and the trio is rated highly by expert form analyst The Watchdog.
“I’m leaning towards Zetland County as my best hope. He’s run 23.05sec at Geelong, which is a good time for a maiden,” she said.
Here’s how Heather assesses her runners’ chances:
Zetland County, Race 1 Box 1, 6.22pm
“His past two starts haven’t been his best… He was carted off wide at his last start… But if he jumps, he’ll finish off quite well… He’s a good little chaser.”
The Watchdog says: Placed in 3 of 6 to date, hard to hold out.
Gypsy Jean, Race 3 Box 2, 7.04pm
“She was off the scene for nearly six months after injuring a hock… But I was happy with her return at Horsham last Tuesday… She’ll benefit from that hit-out.”
The Watchdog says: Far from disgraced when resuming, keep safe.
Miss Liberty, Race 5 Box 2, 7.51pm
“She’s stepping up to 450 metres, I’m hoping she’ll handle the increase in distance… She can be a little tardy at the start and is probably better suited out wide… She’s got her confidence back but will need to lead to win.”
The Watchdog says: Cracking 23.29 Horsham winner, hard to reel in.
Pawnote: Heather and husband Bruce ran a Melbourne-to-Adelaide greyhound and pet transport business for almost two decades, but unfortunately had to shut down due to Bruce’s ill health. They relocated to Murtoa around seven years ago.
