‘Silk’ department

Tuesday, 07 Apr, 2020,
by Peter Quilty

‘Silk’ department

Rising stars Aston Silk (Box 1) and Amarillo Highway (Box 6) – both two years old – should stage a battle royal for a $3050 winner’s purse in a GRV Vic Bred Series final (460m) at Warragul tonight.

The pair clashed in a heat last week, with Amarillo Highway victorious and Aston Silk filling third place only two lengths away. The winning time of 25.75sec was the fastest of three heats.

Amarillo Highway is the $2.30F, with Aston Silk $2.40, in early betting markets.

Aston Silk has won four races from nine starts, while Amarillo Highway has notched six wins from 10 starts with a 25.59sec Warragul PB.

It’s also worth recalling that Aston Silk (Box 2) and Amarillo Highway (Box 6) met at Sandown over 515 metres on Boxing Day last year. On that occasion, Aston Silk accounted for Amarillo Highway by eight and a quarter lengths in 29.65sec.

WATCH: Amarillo Highway (2) defeat Captain Jake (1) and Aston Silk (4) in a GRV Vic Bred Series heat (460m) at Warragul last week.

Here’s the tale of the tape

ASTON SILK
T: Jason Thompson
G1 National Futurity finalist
2 from 3 Box 1: 67%

AMARILLO HIGHWAY
T: Glenn Rounds
2 from 2 Trk/Dst: 100%
Won 5 of past 6: 83%

The Watchdog says:

Aston Silk – Drawn to lead, handy heat effort, main danger.

Amarillo Highway – Potential megastar, watch the clock if steps.

The trainers say:

Aston Silk – “I think from box one she’ll give herself every chance… But she’ll need to pinch a break and turn for home 2-3 lengths in front… She’ll find a little bit on her heat run but is much better around the circle where she can skip away… She’s going as well as ever and I’m keen to get her back over 500 metres.” – Jason Thompson

Amarillo Highway – “It’s a very solid race… He’ll need to step cleanly and wouldn’t want to be ‘caught in traffic’… Aston Silk has the advantage of box one and she could control the race… And the others aren’t making up the numbers… Last week’s heat win was excellent as he was coming off the pace.” – Glenn Rounds

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Peter Quilty

Peter Quilty has more than three decades of experience as assistant editor of Victorian Greyhound Weekly. He was editor of GRV monthly magazine The Adviser (2001-09) and owner/publisher of Australian Greyhound Monthly. He also served on the selection panel for the inaugural GRV ‘Hall of Fame’ inductees and for several years was an adjudicator on the Victorian GOTY. He’s also published greyhound racing yearbooks and wrote the ‘Bold Trease’ video script.