Champion chaser Shima Shine appears poised to further cement his status as Victoria’s premier greyhound sprinter in Saturday night’s $67,000 Group 2 CHS Group Horsham Cup Final (485m).
After producing a devastating run in his heat on Friday when lowering Orson’s Allen’s track record by a whopping 1.5 lengths with a 26.79sec gallop, the son of Barcia Bale and Shima Song opened up a $1.50 favourite with tab.com.au after drawing Box 7.
While Shima Shine, a dual Group 1 winner and multiple track record holder, is clearly the greyhound to beat, he’ll need to overcome a personal hoodoo, as he has never won a country cup before.
Last week was the third time in his career he has been the fastest heat winner in a country cup series, while his record in such finals is a third (Bendigo Cup), fourth (Geelong Cup) and third (Warragul Cup). He was the favourite on all three occasions.
And despite being the fastest heat winner by some five lengths, he’ll need to bring his A-game on Saturday night if he is to break his country cups duck.
Shima Shine is one of four finalists from Andrea Dailly’s kennel, along with Aston Cade, Fabriola Zad and Jax Bale, the latter being second quickest heat winner (in 27.09sec) and chasing back-to-back country cups after snaring the Cranbourne Cup in February.
Then there’s Jim Zarr Dashian, the former 425m track record holder at Bendigo whose brilliance was on full display with a gutsy heat victory after being put to the sword by Aussie Secret.
As one of the three fastest second placegetters among last Friday’s heats, the Jason Thompson-trained Aussie Secret qualified for the final along with kennelmate and emerging star Mr. America, who pushed Shima Shine for the best part of their heat.
Rounding out the finalists is the Brett Nye-trained Barooga Smoke, who faces the biggest test of his 23-start career but has won five of his past seven races including a recent Best of Night Horsham victory in a flying 27.03sec.
Incidentally, Barooga Smoke’s owner Jim Psaila trained the 2010 Horsham Cup winner, Our Toyman.
A bumper card of racing awaits on Horsham Cup night including the Jan Wilson Memorial, Sylvia Penny Memorial, GRV Vic Bred Maiden Final and the Horsham Cup Consolation.
$67,000 G2 CHS GROUP HORSHAM CUP
Saturday 6 March – 485m
$47,000 (1st); $13,335 (2nd); $6,650 (3rd)
Recent Horsham Cup winners
2010 Our Toyman (James Psaila, Little River VIC)
2011 Enry Walt (Gary Ennis, Sandhurst VIC)
2012 Dyna Tron (Andrea Dailly, Anakie VIC)
2013 Peter Rocket (Keith Hellmuth, Pearcedale VIC)
2014 Crump (Troy Iwanyk, West Melbourne VIC)
2015 Margins (Brooke Ennis, Lara VIC)
2016 Zambora Brockie (Anthony Azzopardi, Rowsley VIC)
2017 *** Race Not Held ***
2018 Jimmy Newob (Kelvyn Greenough, Pearcedale VIC)
2019 Orson Allen (Correy Grenfell, Mount Wallace VIC)
2020 Tiggerlong Tonk (Correy Grenfell, Mount Wallace VIC)
FLASHBACK: TIGGERLONG TONK (3) scores a convincing win in the 2020 Horsham Cup over MEPUNGA PEGUSUS (5) and BARCIA PRINCE (2) in 27.17sec. RESULTS
The Horsham Cup is the first leg of greyhound racing’s inaugural ‘Western Festival of Racing’, which incorporates four country cups and over $700,000 in prize money.
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